Twitter automatically bans Ukrainians who often write about the war
After the Russians blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, Ukrainians launched an information campaign on Twitter – but as it turned out, the social network began to mark some posts with the “sensitive content” tag and hide their content. The account of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy was no exception.
In Twitter’s settings, there is an option to “show sensitive media files,” which, as it turned out, is turned off by default in the settings of most users – and if a person does not check it, they will not see content about the war in Ukraine that the social network has labeled “sensitive.”
“If a user spends 3 to 5 seconds on an action, they will be satisfied. It will take an average user more than a minute to find the display settings. This eliminates 95% of users. Die quietly, but do not interfere with rest” – wrote the @eto_bim account on Twitter, which shared a trend about the way the social network hides posts by Ukrainians.
WARNING. WARNING. UPDATE I FOUND THE REASON! Twee went the way of the insta. Now some (all fucking accounts) have the “sensational content” tag, which is hidden in the settings by default. If I’m not mistaken, this content is hidden when you sign up for an account. So you can… pic.twitter.com/yYzTda9iOK
– Bimster (@eto_bim) June 7, 2023
Interestingly, the iOS app doesn’t show the “show sensitive content” option at all – you can change the settings in the web version and the Android app.
Another problem is the so-called “shadow ban” for Ukrainians who actively post information about the war in Ukraine, collections to help the Ukrainian army, and Russian attacks. This label, which Twitter issues at its own discretion, makes it difficult to find accounts and display them in the feed.
An update on the situation with the so-called shadowbans. Musk hid Ukrainian accounts from westerns. If you search from a profile where all the settings are in English, the search does not show accounts. But if you search from an account with a Ukrainian interface, everything is fine.
As always, he draws his own conclusions. https://t.co/tXxSYoUH4E pic.twitter.com/BBOeCbybee
– Bimster (@eto_bim) June 7, 2023
In this case, we are talking about the so-called “search suggestion ban” – where an account can only be found in the search by entering its exact name. Among the reasons Twitter explains for such blocking are the publication of “disturbing content”, suspicion of “coordinated behavior”, etc.
