Musk lifts restrictions on Russian and Chinese state media accounts on Twitter
They returned to search results and recommendations
Chinese and Russian media outlets can once again work without restrictions on Twitter. Elon Musk decided to lift the “sanctions” against them.
In 2020, the social network began flagging media accounts controlled by governments. Publications that contained links to government websites were labeled “Stay Informed,” which reminded of editorial control by China and Russia. In addition, such accounts were blocked in search. These restrictions have now been lifted.
Interestingly, Twitter’s policy still states that state-affiliated media outlets must be labeled accordingly. Despite this, the accounts of a number of Chinese and Russian state media outlets are now showing up in searches again. For example, People’s Daily, Izvestia, and Xinhua. Moreover, these accounts are displayed in the first rows during the search. They also appear in the “For You” recommendations, where from April 15, 2023, only verified accounts will be visible.
Seems accurate pic.twitter.com/nx5TmJY7GX
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2023
In conclusion, the NPR (National Public Radio) account has been labeled as a media outlet affiliated with the US government. Earlier, Twitter promised not to add the label to publications such as the BBC and NRP. The latter was excluded from Twitter’s policy. The company requested that the label be removed, but Elon Musk said that the decision seemed right to him.
