Ahead of vote, Twitter says accounts removed over 'disinformation'

Twitter on Saturday said it deleted a "series of accounts" that attempted to share disinformation, ahead of crucial midterm elections, as media reports said thousands of accounts were axed.

The social media company "removed a series of accounts for engaging in attempts to share disinformation in an automated fashion—a violation of our policies," it confirmed to AFP without giving a number.

Twitter said it has established "open lines of communication" for state election officials, Republican and Democratic campaign officials, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Reports said many of the accounts were posing as Democrats, posting tweets encouraging US voters to sit out Tuesday's ballot.

CNN said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had alerted Twitter to the accounts, which were removed in late September and early October.

For months, Twitter has sought to eliminate automated and bogus accounts designed to manipulate the public conversation on the platform, in response to concerns over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In October it said its number of active users fell by nine million in the previous quarter as a result of these efforts.

US President Donald Trump recently complained that Twitter was removing some of his followers.