Tweets containing information from media controlled by the Russian authorities will now be given a specific label and will see their visibility reduced, Twitter announced on Monday, these media being accused of disinformation relating to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Each tweet containing a link to a media close to the Russian government will now be added the mention “this tweet links to the site of a media affiliated with the Russian government”.
“Many are looking for credible information because of the conflict in Ukraine,” wrote Yoel Roth, head of platform integrity at Twitter, in a tweet. “We are adding a label to tweets related to state media and reducing the visibility of this content. “Labels already used for publications related to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to elections” around the world “.
More than 45,000 tweets per day affected
If the official accounts of these media, as well as those of news organizations close to power in other countries, were already subject to the system of the label, “the tweets sharing their content lacked visible contextualization”, explained Yoel Roth .
According to the leader, more than 45,000 tweets a day have taken up a link to a Russian media affiliated with the power since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
Asked, Twitter said it had, before Monday’s announcement, taken several measures to adapt to the consequences of the conflict on social networks. The platform says in particular that it is committed “to highlighting reliable information on the conflict” thanks to its “Moments” threads, which include tweets from verified accounts and media considered credible. Twitter did not provide a list of media considered affiliated with Russian authorities.
