The social media platform X suspended 13,000 accounts allegedly linked to foreign influence operations involving Iran, China and Russia, the company said Wednesday as it outlined measures ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections. X did not disclose how many accounts were linked to each country.
X said its investigations found that the networks used fake accounts to post and amplify political content targeting candidates and public figures “across the political spectrum.” The platform said it identified the accounts through “proactive sweeps and investigations” under its rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
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“People come to X to talk about what’s happening in the world, including the upcoming 2026 US midterms. Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and we are proud that X is the global town square where these debates happen. Our job is to keep that conversation authentic, open, and safe,” the X Global Governance account said.
“To ensure these fundamental values are protected during elections, our Safety team uses a variety of detection methods to proactively find and act on activity that breaks the X Rules. These measures build on the safety protections we run 24/7, year-round. X’s Authenticity Policy is particularly important to this work. Whether it is spam networks or entities engaged in influence operations, we are actively working to identify and stop coordinated inauthentic behavior that undermines the integrity of our platform,” the post said, referring to the suspension of the 13,000 accounts.
According to Middle East Eye, the accounts allegedly used inauthentic profiles to post and amplify content about U.S. politics, targeting candidates and public figures across the political spectrum.
X also said users could report election-related posts through its “civic integrity” reporting option and request a Community Note to provide additional context. In urgent cases, the platform may apply labels to posts that violate its election rules and require immediate attention, according to Al Jazeera.
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The announcement comes a week after OpenAI said it had disrupted two alleged influence operations linked to Russia and Iran. According to the company, the operations used ChatGPT to create fake journalist personas and run a “think tank” that covertly spread anti-Ukraine propaganda.
This is not the first time X has taken action against suspected foreign influence networks. In 2021, the platform, then known as Twitter, said it had suspended 238 accounts allegedly operating from Iran.