April 5 (Reuters) – Twitter ( TWTR.N ) said on Tuesday it will no longer recommend Russian government accounts to users as part of a rule change affecting state-run accounts that restrict access to the open internet and are involved in interstate armed conflict.
The social media company also said it would now require the removal of posts depicting prisoners of war posted by government or state-affiliated media accounts. The Ukrainian government has posted content featuring prisoners of war on social media in recent weeks.
Russia has battled with major tech companies to control information flows since invading Ukraine on February 24. The Kremlin calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation”. Moscow has blocked access to Twitter by slowing its service and banned Meta’s ( FB.O ) Facebook and Instagram.
“When a government blocks or restricts access to online services within their state, undermining the public’s voice and ability to freely access information, but continues to use online services for its own communications, a severe information imbalance is created,” Twitter said. on a blog. post.
The company said its new measure to not amplify accounts would apply whether Twitter itself was blocked or not, and that it would first apply the policy to Russian government accounts.
It said that under the new rule it will not amplify or recommend media accounts linked to the Russian or state government, including in a user’s Home timeline, or search or explore functions. A spokesman said it would affect more than 300 Russian government accounts.
The company also said it would require government or state-affiliated media accounts to remove any published media containing prisoners of war. It said that in cases where there was a “compelling public interest” in accessing the content, such as for evidentiary purposes, it would instead add a warning to the tweets.
During the conflict, Ukrainian government social media accounts have posted videos showing Russian prisoners of war answering questions or making phone calls home. Asked about the posts on a call with reporters, Twitter’s head of integrity Yoel Roth said such tweets would be covered by the scope of the new rules, but the policy would not apply retroactively.
“We do not want Twitter to be used by state actors to violate international humanitarian law and, to the best of our ability, we want to discourage governments from engaging in this type of behavior,” Roth said, citing the Geneva Convention. which protects prisoners of war against abuses including insults and public curiosity.
Twitter also said it would seek to remove tweets posted by any user with abusive POW content.
Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford Editing by Nick Zieminski
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