Trump: Will Twitter delete NYTimes, WaPo accounts in fake accounts purge?

United States President Donald Trump asked on Saturday whether Twitter will consider axing the accounts of The New York Times and the Washington Post as the social media platforms gears up to delete millions of fake accounts.

“Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts at a record pace. Will that include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post, who constantly quote anonymous sources that, in my opinion, don’t exist,” Trump tweeted.

“They will both be out of business in 7 years!”

Twitter has been suspending more than one million fake and dubious accounts per day, according to The Washington Post, in an aggressive bid to stem the flow of false information.

The social media platform has more than doubled its crackdown rate since late last year, the Post said, when testimony from Twitter, Facebook and Google revealed startling new data showing many more millions of Americans were exposed to fake news than previously thought.

Russia-linked fake accounts are believed to have fired off false tweets in an effort to sway the 2016 US presidential vote.

(With inputs from AFP)