Twitter began suspending 70 pro-Mike Bloomberg accounts on Friday for breaking its rules, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
The accounts were posting identical messages in support of Bloomberg and ran afoul of Twitter’s rules against “platform manipulation and spam,” a Twitter spokesperson said.
Bloomberg campaign spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told CNN on Sunday that staff had not been deceitful.
“We ask that all of our deputy field organizers identify themselves as working on behalf of the Mike Bloomberg 2020 campaign on their social media accounts,” she said in a statement. “Through Outvote, content is shared by staffers and volunteers to their network of friends and family and was not intended to mislead anyone.”
The Los Angeles Times first reported the suspensions on Friday.
The move by Twitter will draw further attention to the Bloomberg campaign’s at times unorthodox social media strategy.
The social media giant began taking action against the accounts after inquiries from the LA Times.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Bloomberg campaign is hiring hundreds of workers in California to post regularly on their social media accounts messages in support of the former New York mayor. As part of that effort, staff are provided pre-written messages to share online, the Journal reported.
Bloomberg’s campaign has been the subject of much attention in recent days. Last week, the billionaire faced tough questioning from his rivals during his first debate of the 2020 cycle, particularly on the issue of several nondisclosure agreements signed by women who had made complaints against Bloomberg.
On Friday, the former mayor released three women who have made allegations of sexist and misogynistic behavior against him from their nondisclosure agreements.
CNN’s Dan Merica and Devan Cole contributed to this report.