Twitter issued new security guidelines for users in Ukraine to protect their accounts amid the country’s conflict with Russia.
The social media platform shared tips to help Ukrainian users protect their accounts and digital information, according to a tweet on Wednesday.
“When using Twitter in conflict zones or other high-risk areas, it’s important to be aware of how to control your account and digital information.” wrote Twitter.
Instructions were posted in English and Ukrainian.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine early Thursday morning. Shortly after that announcement, Ukrainian authorities reported rocket attacks across the country as Russian ground and air forces were seen advancing into territories controlled by Kiev.
When using Twitter in conflict zones or other high-risk areas, it’s important to be aware of how to control your account and digital information.
Every situation is different, so here are some things to consider:
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 24, 2022
Twitter’s advice included recommendations to strengthen user account passwords, ways to know if an account has been “compromised” and setting up two-factor authentication for account access.
“Twitter’s top priority is keeping people safe, and we have long-standing efforts to improve the security of our service. As we do around major global events, our security and integrity teams are monitoring for potential risks related to conflict for protect the health and service, including identifying and disrupting efforts to promote false and misleading information and advancing the speed and scale of our enforcement,” a Twitter spokesperson said. Newsweek on Thursday.
The platform also gave users advice on how to regain access in case their accounts were “compromised” or “hacked” and how to control the visibility of their tweets. Twitter also posted ways for them to reset their “restricted” accounts, a case in which a user’s account may be blocked or certain features are restricted.
He also offered advice if users choose to delete their accounts for their own safety: “If you feel safer deleting your account, deactivating your Twitter account will be the first step and means that your username, profile and Tweets will no longer be viewable unless you reactivate within 30 days.”
Twitter posted methods for users to keep their location private and remove their location information from their current and previous tweets. However, users’ locations may still be visible from third-party applications or external search results.
“Just as you might not want to tweet your home address, be careful when tweeting from places you don’t want others to see,” the post said.
The Twitter spokesperson also said the social media platform would continue to monitor any further developments related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and warned that the company would take action if clear evidence of state-linked information operations emerged.
Twitter defines a state-linked information operation as a “platform manipulation that we can reliably attribute to a government or state-linked actor.” This “manipulation” is “prohibited” under Twitter’s rules.
“If we have clear evidence of state-linked information operations, our first priority is to enforce our rules and remove accounts that engage in this behavior,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Hundreds of casualties were reported after the first missile hit Ukraine on Thursday, a Ukrainian interior ministry source told CNN. No details were released about the number of people killed out of those reported casualties.
During a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Joe Biden denounced the “untried and unjustified attack” against Ukraine early Thursday.
“I condemned this unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” Biden said of his phone conversation with Zelenskyy, according to a statement released by the White House.
“I informed [Zelenskyy] on the steps we are taking to gather international condemnation, including tonight at the United Nations Security Council,” the president said.
Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia launched “a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said America would “reinforce NATO” if Russia invades Ukraine by “positioning forces to the east between our partners and allies to make sure they are protected”.
Update 2/24/2022, 1:39 PM ET: This story has been updated to include comments from Twitter.
