By Raphael Satter
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it permanently suspended several accounts falsely claiming to be tied to the Associated Press after they posted unverified U.S. election results.
According to screenshots circulating online and a review of the accounts in question, four accounts were disabled after making calls on the results of an undeclared swing state in the presidential election that the news agency had not made.
Twitter later confirmed the accounts were permanently suspended for violating its policy on impersonation.
The AP is closely watched for its authoritative take on U.S. electoral contests.
“These are bogus accounts not affiliated with AP,” the AP said in a statement.
The director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Christopher Krebs, said on Twitter that “we’re seeing reports of fake media accounts calling a state – don’t fall for it!”
(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and David Gregorio)
