Since last night, X, formerly known as Twitter, has blocked dozens of accounts of Spanish broadcasters and media outlets without prior notice. Some of these accounts, such as that of Mari Luz Congosto or Javier Barriuso, analyzed the spread of misinformation on the social network itself. Others, like Blanca Arteaga or Anabel Fortes, were profiles dedicated mainly to dissemination. The Balearic edition of elDiario.es or the Aragonese media AraInfo have also been punished by X.
Early this Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the suspension, the accounts were active again. According to one of those affected, Mari Luz Congosto, the cause could have been a cleanup of bots that X announced at the beginning of April and that has also affected accounts in other countries: “We were false positives of the bot hunting algorithm.”
We were false positives of the bot/troll hunting algorithm.
How would @enjutomojamuto say: just as he left, he came
— Mariluz Congosto (@congosto.bsky.social) (@congosto) April 17, 2024
The initial explanation given to those affected is that they did not comply with the rules of the social network, without giving more details. EL PAÍS asked the company about the reasons for this wave of suspensions and whether they are temporary or permanent. The communication department has an automatic response activated that says they are very busy and ask me later. One of Elon Musk's first measures after taking over Twitter in October 2022 was to lay off thousands of workers (80% of the workforce), including practically the entire company's communications team.
System purge of bots underway: reply below if legitimate accounts are suspended https://t.co/8mEKtLxk9b
— Engineering (@XEng) April 4, 2024
The suspended accounts had no clear common link. Many of them are from women communicators. In the absence of official explanations, a debate has been generated on the social network itself about this veto and there is talk of a possible update of the algorithm, that it is a consequence of a bot cleanup and there is even speculation that there has been a organized external attack.
Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots.
Current AI (and troll farms) can pass “are you a bot” with ease.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 15, 2024
The option that the suspension of accounts has to do with the fight against bots is the one that had the most supporters from the beginning. Musk himself cited the fight against ghost accounts as one of his main objectives when he took over the social network. The tycoon said this week that the only way to combat bots is to charge users for publishing content on their social network. The blocking of accounts could have been a consequence of some new protocol aimed at filtering bots and that has led to accounts that are not automated.