(New York) Twitter admitted on Wednesday that it had “erroneously” suspended some accounts relaying information on the crisis in Ukraine before reinstating them, assuring that this was not linked to a massive reporting campaign.
Posted yesterday at 6:34 p.m.
The social network closely monitors “emerging stories that violate our policy” and has, in this case, “taken action in error”, said a spokesperson.
A Twitter official previously reacted to posts alleging the suspension of accounts using publicly available intelligence tools, such as photos or videos posted on the internet, to report on the Ukraine crisis and troop movements Russians, claiming to have launched an investigation into the subject.
A “small amount of human error in our work to proactively fight media manipulation resulted in these flawed measurements,” said Yoel Roth, platform integrity manager, on his own Twitter account.
But these measures were not taken “following mass reports”, he said.
Twitter also said the account suspensions were unrelated to a coordinated campaign by “bots,” automated computer programs.
Like Facebook and YouTube, the platform is regularly accused of not sufficiently combating misinformation. But Twitter has less substantial human and financial resources than its Californian neighbors to curb this mass phenomenon.