Twitter Cracks Down On Spreading Malicious Information By Limiting 300 Accounts From Russian Government Up To Putin

JAKARTA - Twitter has restricted more than 300 official Russian government accounts, including those of Russian President Vladimir Putin. These accounts will no longer be recommended in the timeline, notifications, or elsewhere on social media.

The company said it will and will continue to take action against any country that restricts access to the open internet when they are involved in an armed conflict. Twitter has also been severely restricted in Russia since its war with Ukraine. Currently, Putin has two official accounts, one in Russian and one in English. The two have 3.6 million and 1.7 million followers respectively.

Even so, Twitter still allows Russian government officials to freely tweet on its social media site, but at the same time, the company is also restricting the platform in Russia to prevent a dangerous information imbalance.

The move, which will affect more than 300 Russian-owned accounts, reflects a new policy the company is rolling out to ensure the free flow of information.

The policy states that Twitter will not endorse or recommend accounts on its platform that are run by governments that are involved in armed conflicts between countries and that also simultaneously restrict access to free information. That means, Twitter's powerful algorithms won't promote these accounts.

The Russian government accounts targeted included profiles of official ministries and embassies, as well as accounts of high-ranking Russian officials. Twitter's announcement came after critics highlighted differences between the company's previous actions to restrict Russian state media on its platform, such as content from Sputnik and RT, whose relatively hands-off approach to Russian government accounts.

A number of US lawmakers have also asked Twitter to outright ban Russian government accounts. This was quoted from CNN International, Wednesday, April 6.