Twitter limits reach for Russian govt accounts

San Francisco: In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Twitter has announced not to amplify or recommend government accounts in countries — starting with Russia — that limit access to free information and are engaged in armed interstate conflict whether Twitter is blocked in that country or not.

Twitter said when a government blocks or limits access to online services within their state, undercutting the public’s voice and ability to freely access information, but continues to use online services for their own communications, a severe information imbalance is created.

“Particularly in moments of active, armed interstate conflict, the harms created by this imbalance are acute; access to information, and to the ability to share information, are of paramount importance,” the micro-blogging platform said late on Tuesday.

According to Sinead McSweeney, Twitter VP of Global Public Policy, such government accounts won’t be amplified or recommended to people on Twitter, including across the Home Timeline, Explore, Search, and other places on the service.

“We will first apply this policy to government accounts belonging to Russia,” McSweeney announced.

Twitter said it is committed to treating conversations about global conflicts more equitably, and “we’ll continue to evaluate whether this policy may be applied in other contexts, beyond interstate armed conflict”.