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Twitter suspended Guccifer 2.0 and DC Leaks’ accounts

Twitter suspended Guccifer 2.0 and DC Leaks’ accounts

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The accounts were named in Friday’s indictments against 12 Russian intelligence agents

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Photo by Michele Doying / The Verge

Twitter has suspended two prominent accounts linked to the 2016 hack on the Democratic National Committee, Guccifer 2.0 and DC Leaks. The move comes after the Justice Department handed down 12 indictments against 12 Russian intelligence agents, which specifically named the accounts as part of the country’s propaganda efforts during the 2016 presidential election.

A Twitter spokesperson told the San Diego Union Tribute that the accounts were suspended for being “connected to a network of accounts previously suspended for operating in violation of our rules.” The Justice Department indictments allege that both accounts acted as fronts for agents in Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and were responsible for conducting cyberattacks against state election boards, secretaries of state, election software providers, and the Democratic National Committee, in an effort to gather information and leak damaging information during the election. In June 2016, Guccifer 2.0 pointed its followers to DC Leaks, which had released e-mails stolen from the DNC earlier that year.

It’s not clear which network of accounts Twitter is referencing: a company spokesperson declined to comment beyond its previously released statement. In the last year, Twitter has been under the microscope after it announced that it had banned hundreds of Russian-linked accounts during the election, exposing nearly 700,000 people to propaganda. Earlier this year, Twitter introduced new rules and suspended additional accounts in an effort to cut down on automated spam and bots, and significantly upped its efforts to suspend accounts responsible for malicious activity.

The accounts have been unused for over a year and a half: and while both accounts had been suspended in the past, those suspensions were only temporary, seemingly for posting personal information, which violates Twitters Terms of Service.