Taiwan Finds Fake Twitter Accounts Tweeting Apologies From 'Taiwanese' to WHO Chief

Investigators in Taiwan say they have found a number of fake Twitter accounts linked to China posting fake apologies to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has accused the democratic island of involvement in a series of personal and racist attacks against him.

Investigators from the ministry of justice in Taiwan said they had uncovered an effort by Chinese netizens to exploit the controversy by falsely identifying themselves as Taiwanese and issuing apologies to Tedros online, the island's Central News Agency reported. The posts appeared on fake accounts made to imitate the account of Radio Free Asia, and included apology templates posted by an account calling itself "Radio Free Xuzhou."

The messages represented "a grave threat to Taiwan's international reputation," the investigators told a news conference in Taipei on Friday.

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