TWITTER SUSPENDS ADVERTISEMENTS IN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE CITING ABUSIVE CONTENT

Sat 26 January 2022:

In an effort to prioritize people’s safety amid the armed crisis between the two countries, Twitter has temporarily disabled the display of adverts on its site in Ukraine and Russia. Ads, according to Twitter, can divert users’ attention away from important information.

We’re temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it,” the company declared in a statement on Friday, revealing that it had also “paused some Tweet recommendations from people you don’t follow on Home Timeline to reduce the spread of abusive content.”

We’re temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 25, 2022

The social media platform also stated that it will be “proactively reviewing Tweets to detect platform manipulation (or other inauthentic behavior)” and that it would be cracking down on “synthetic and manipulated media” that portrays the crisis in Ukraine in a “false or misleading” depiction.

Twitter – which revealed it would match employee donations to Ukrainian refugees – also announced that it was “actively monitoring vulnerable high-profile accounts, including journalists, activists, and government officials and agencies to mitigate any attempts at a targeted takeover or manipulation.”

The message was made available in English, Russian, and Ukrainian. Twitter’s policy shift comes as Russia’s military action in Ukraine enters its third day. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the war on Thursday.

Social media, including Twitter, have been used as a major source of information for individuals regarding the war, and is being used by both Ukrainian and Russian governments to spread information to the world.

For example, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been tweeting in both Ukrainian and English, as well as other government agencies in the country. Russia has also been using government-run Twitter accounts to share information.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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