Disinformation On The Ukraine Conflict Is Getting Out Of Control, Twitter Labels Russian Media Accounts

Twitter announced the latest steps to prevent disinformation related to the Russian government. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - The social media now led by Parag Agrawal, Twitter, announced the latest steps to prevent disinformation related to the Russian government, regarding their invasion of Ukraine.

The move Twitter is referring to is to start adding labels to tweets containing links from media outlets supported or affiliated with the Russian government.

The label is accompanied by an orange exclamation point, which warns Twitter users to keep an eye on the information by looking for comparison information. Along with this, Twitter will also begin to reduce the visibility of media related to the Russian government on their platform, and limit the outlet's ability to reach a wide audience.

This change does not only occur in Russia. Twitter said it plans to add similar labels to other country-affiliated media accounts in the next few weeks.

“When people search for credible information on Twitter about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we understand and take our role seriously. Our products should make it easy to understand who is behind the content you see, and what their motivations and intentions are,” said Yoel Roth, Head of Twitter Site Integrity, via his official Twitter account.

Today, we’re adding labels to Tweets that share links to Russian state-affiliated media websites and are taking steps to significantly reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter.

We’ll roll out these labels to other state-affiliated media outlets in the coming weeks. pic.twitter.com/57Dycmn8lx

— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) February 28, 2022

In fact, Twitter started labeling accounts of state-controlled media outlets two years ago, but the tags only appear on the account profile page and don't look like the labels within the tweets themselves.

In fact, the company does not allow ads from state-affiliated media accounts. The changes were implemented in 2019 after a number of accounts linked to the Chinese government spread propaganda about the protests in Hong Kong.

Roth said Twitter has seen more than 45,000 tweets per day linking to outlets affiliated with the Russian government since the conflict with Ukraine began a few days ago.

He characterized the new label as a way to add useful context to conversations on Twitter, in line with his efforts to do the same for tweets related to global elections and the pandemic.