Twitter Violates Its Own Policies By Not Policing State-Controlled Media

Listen to this article Twitter Violates Its Own Policies by Not Policing State-Controlled Media

Introduction

Despite announcing measures in 2020 to label official government and state-controlled media accounts and block the latter from appearing in search results, Twitter is violating its own policies by not taking any action to restrict the spread of Chinese and Russian state-controlled media outlets.

Lack of “Stay Informed” Labels

Semafor’s tests found that Twitter had discontinued showing “Stay informed” labels that were initially intended to give extra details about accounts that were deeply involved in geopolitics and diplomacy. Despite that, Semafor’s study found that Russian and Chinese state-affiliated outlets like Izvestia, Xinhua, and the People’s Daily appeared as some of the top search results.

Twitter’s Algorithm Recommends Chinese Government-Backed Publications

Wenhao Ma, a Voice of America reporter, reported that Twitter was no longer fully enforcing its state-affiliated media policy. Ma discovered that the platform had started automatically suggesting Chinese government-backed publications to users via its For You page, which an algorithm controls.

Potential Consequences

Twitter’s lack of enforcement of its state-affiliated media policy could potentially drive away advertisers as the company seeks new ways to increase revenue, such as charging for the verified check mark. CEO Elon Musk has already reported a 50% decrease in ad sales since taking over in October.

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