Report: Social media manipulation affects even US senators

“Basic democratic principles of how societies make decisions get corrupted if you have organized manipulation that is this widespread and this easy to do.”Twitter said it proactively tackles platform manipulation and works to mitigate it at scale.“This is an evolving challenge and this study reflects the immense effort that Twitter has made to improve the health of the public conversation,” Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, said in an email.YouTube said it has put in place safeguards to root out inauthentic activity on its site, and noted that more than 2 million videos were removed from the site in the third quarter of 2020 for violating its spam policies.“We’ll continue to deal with attempts to abuse our systems and share relevant information with industry partners,” the company said in a statement.TikTok said it has zero tolerance toward inauthentic behavior on its platform and that it removes content or accounts that promote spam or fake engagement, impersonation or misleading information that may cause harm.“We’re also investing in third-party testing, automated technology, and comprehensive policies to get ahead of the ever-evolving tactics of people and organizations who aim to mislead others,” a company spokesperson said in an email.———Associated Press writer David Klepper in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events