More than 300 official Russian government accounts, including Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, have had their material restricted on Twitter.
According to Twitter, the accounts will no longer be suggested in timelines, notifications, or anywhere else on the platform.
According to the corporation, any government that “restricts access to the open internet while engaged in armed war” will face consequences.
Since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, Russia’s platform has been severely curtailed.
Putin currently has two official Twitter accounts, one in Russian and the other in English. They each have 3.6 million and 1.7 million Twitter followers.
Allowing Russian government officials to freely post on Twitter while restricting the network in Russia “creates a negative information imbalance,” according to Twitter.
Content on more than 300 official government accounts would no longer be “suggested or amplified” as part of Tuesday’s action. This means that these accounts will not be promoted by Twitter’s powerful algorithm.
Official ministry and embassy profiles, as well as the accounts of high-ranking Russian officials, are among the Russian government accounts targeted.
The accounts have previously been chastised for propagating false information during the Ukraine conflict, but unlike tweets from Russian state-run media, they have never been subjected to Twitter’s strict monitoring.
The official account of the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom said on March 10 that the bombing of a maternity facility in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol was a hoax.
The assertion was untrue. Later, Twitter took down messages that made the “FAKE” accusation.
A BBC investigation last month discovered more misinformation distributed by official Russian government accounts, as well as indications of coordinated action – the use of many government accounts to push a single narrative – which is against Twitter’s rules.
Recent claims that civilian fatalities in the town of Bucha were staged have been refuted as well.
Twitter, on the other hand, claims that their action is a result of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, as well as the country’s choice to block and restrict social media services domestically.
“A harmful information imbalance is created when a government engaged in armed conflict blocks or restricts access to online services within their country, while they themselves continue to use those same services to advance their positions and viewpoints,” says Yoel Roth, Twitter’s Head of Site Integrity.
According to Twitter, the regulations would be applied to any government that restricts access to online services while engaged in interstate warfare. However, the new limits, which took effect on Tuesday, initially apply only to Russian government accounts.
It’s not a ‘tit-for-tat’ situation.
Despite the fact that Twitter is not prohibited in Russia, it has been substantially slowed to the point of inaccessibility.
Twitter, on the other hand, claims that its conduct was not retaliatory.
“To be clear, this isn’t a ‘tit-for-tat’ strategy in which if you block Twitter, you’ll be de-amplified by Twitter; this enforcement will take place whether Twitter is blocked or not,” Mr Roth explained.
He went on to say that Twitter would take action against images of prisoners of war uploaded by government or state-affiliated media accounts.
“We will compel the removal of those tweets if we observe media released by government or state media accounts that feature prisoners of war, or if the prisoner of war is being exposed to ill treatment, such as brutality, humiliation, or derision,” he stated.
On February 28, four days after the invasion of Ukraine began, Twitter “de-amplified” Russian state media on the site, including Russia Today and Sputnik. The business earlier informed the BBC that the action had resulted in a “30% reduction of this content’s reach.”
The move, however, was not carried out on official Russian government accounts.
Tim Graham, a social media expert at Australia’s QUT Digital Media Research Centre, identified it as a “loophole” in Twitter’s moderation procedures last month.
“It’s definitely a blind spot in Twitter’s anti-disinformation defenses,” he added.
