A year after Twitter restricted Russian government accounts on its platform, the social network appears to have removed those blocks. The Elon Musk-owned platform has resumed the accounts of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Embassy appearing in search results.
The changelog, spotted by The Telegraph, also shows Russian authorities’ accounts on timelines and recommendations. A former Twitter employee told the publication that the move was likely due to a policy change.
Twitter has changed its policy on a number of things in recent days including which accounts it views government and state. the earlier version It has a section called “Do these ratings restrict jobs?” The company described how it limited access to some accounts in this category.
“In the case of state media entities, Twitter will not recommend or amplify accounts or their Tweets with these labels to people. In limited circumstances where there is an increased risk of harm, including situations where governments block access to online information in the context of an armed conflict, Twitter will also not recommend or amplify certain government accounts or their Tweets with these labels to people,” the policy read.
Now, the company has completely removed that section. Additionally, in response to a user over the weekend, Musk said Twitter would go ahead “neither demand nor limit their accounts” and the company would quickly address any attempts to game the system. Historically, there have been multiple instances of the Kremlin using Twitter accounts to manipulate a narrative.
Last year, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Twitter took hold Policy That limited the amplification of government accounts from countries that prevented the free flow of information.
“When a government blocks or restricts access to online services within its jurisdiction, thereby diluting the public’s voice and ability to freely access information, but continues to use online services for their own communications, an acute information imbalance is created. The damages caused by this are The defects are severe, especially in moments of active armed conflict between states; the company said in blog post on time.
After taking over Twitter, Musk tried to dismiss the social network’s role as arbiter of truth, cut several employees from the moderation team, and expand the role of Community Notes — the company’s fact-checking product — to do the heavy lifting.
Over the weekend, the Anonymous Operations account called for Twitter to take no action over a Russian official’s tweet encouraging the “disappearance of Ukraine.” In response, Musk said that all the news is a “degree of propaganda” and believes that people should be able to decide for themselves, stating that Twitter will not get involved in matters that may have violated the social network’s speech policy under the previous administration.
Under Musk, Twitter has made tough media decisions. Last week, the company blocked replies, Tweets, and likes on posts containing Substack links after the newsletter platform unveiled a version of Twitter called Notes. Twitter has since lifted most of these restrictions, but it still appears to limit searches using Substack links.
Separately, Musk called NPR “the media affiliated with the United States” and then changed it to “government funded media” after the outcry. Other publications such as the BBC, PBS, and Voice of America have also been labeled “government-funded media”. The BBC objected to the designation and said the organization was funded by “the British public through a license fee”.
Last week, Musk Remove the check mark from the New York Times account After the post refused to pay for Twitter’s paid verification service. The company initially planned to remove the old checkmarks on April 1, but hasn’t moved forward with that yet.