(San Francisco) Twitter on Tuesday announced new measures against Russian government accounts to reduce the circulation of official Russian propaganda on the social network.
Posted at 8:00 p.m.
These official accounts will no longer be “recommended” to Twitter users in any category of the site or app, including search, the platform said in a statement Tuesday.
The Californian company, like its neighbor Meta (Facebook, Instagram), had already blocked the accounts of the Russian media RT and Sputnik in the European Union.
Moscow had responded by restricting access to Twitter in the country (and blocking Facebook and Instagram).
“We will not facilitate the dissemination (of messages) from the government accounts of states that limit free access to information and are involved in armed conflicts between states, whether Twitter is blocked in that country or not”, justifies the group.
“When a government blocks or limits access to digital services […] but continues to use these services for its own communication, it creates a serious imbalance, ”continues Twitter.
The official English account of Russian President Vladimir Putin has only 1.7 million subscribers.
Since the beginning of the Russian offensive on February 24, the authorities in Moscow have stepped up censorship, already strong, to control the story told by television, newspapers, but also by private individuals on social networks.
Using words like “war” or “invasion” to describe the intervention or refer to actions against civilians is prohibited.
In addition, the main independent media that still exist in Russia have been blocked or suspended their activity to avoid trouble.