Twitter adds a label on tweets with media links close to the Russian state

Following the war in Ukraine, Twitter has decided to add a label to all tweets that include a link to media supported by the Russian authorities. It is not yet translated into French, but one can read “This tweet links to a Russian state-affiliated media website”.

A label for some tweets with Russian media links

“Today we are adding a label to tweets that share links from Russian state-affiliated media sites and are doing what is necessary to reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter”wrote in a tweet Yoel Roth, Head of Platform Integrity at Twitter. The manager recalls in another message that the social network has already used labels for publications related to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as to elections around the world.

If the official accounts of these media, as well as those of news organizations close to the government in other countries, were already subject to the label system, “tweets sharing their content lacked visible contextualization”, explained Yoel Roth. According to the leader, more than 45,000 tweets a day have taken up a link to a Russian media affiliated with the power since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, namely on Thursday.

Before this label, Twitter had already taken measures to adapt to the consequences of the conflict on social networks. The platform says in particular that it is committed to highlighting reliable information on the conflict thanks to its “Moments” space, which includes tweets from verified accounts and media considered credible.