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Twitter To Label Tweets Linking To Russian State Media (securityweek.com) 53

wiredmikey writes: "Twitter will put warnings on tweets sharing links to Russian state-affiliated media, the platform said Monday, as Kremlin-tied outlets are accused of spreading misinformation on Moscow's invasion of Ukraine," reports SecurityWeek. The news comes as Russian troops have launched a major assault on Ukraine and while their forces battle in the physical world for control over various cities and regions, a battle is also taking place in cyberspace with attacks and misinformation campaigns. Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of site integrity, says the platform is seeing more than 45,000 tweets per day that are sharing links to state-affiliated media outlets.

"Our product should make it easy to understand who's behind the content you see, and what their motivations and intentions are," he added. In addition to adding labels that identify the sources of links, Roth said the platform is also "taking steps to significantly reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter."
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Twitter To Label Tweets Linking To Russian State Media

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  • Half-assed measure
    • Advertising revenue. They didn't remove the Orange One (who's name shall not be spoken) until they were afraid of lawsuits from all the violence being incited.

      It's also why they'll ban your account for posting a joke about COVID-19 misinformation but let the top 12 posters responsible for nearly all vaccine misinformation keep posting.

      They're a corporation. A business. Remember, it's not personal, it's just business.
      • They didn't remove the Orange One (who's name shall not be spoken) until they were afraid of lawsuits from all the violence being incited.

        You people are such delusional retards. The vast majority of the violence ANYWHERE was at the hands of the liberal mobs. There was some violence on our side, but nowhere fucking near what you cop-hating morons generated. It's not the conservatives driving all the business out of San Francisco you liberal turd.

        Unlikely there's a city more liberal than Chicago. Absolutely top heavy with lefties. What city is setting all sorts of records for violence?

        Only a liberal would have the balls to flat-out lie

    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      For the same reason I occasionally dip into neonazi Internet cesspools ... to keep track of what they're are thinking. Or more precisely: to keep track of what they want other people to think.

      In 1644, the English poet and civil servant John Milton wrote a famous essay in defense of free speech called *Areopagitica*, in which he argues that you can't improve public morality by controlling what the public reads. On one hand a corrupted mind turns good information into more bad ideas; the analogy he gives is

      • by kmoser ( 1469707 )
        Banning them doesn't necessarily have to be to be with the intention of controlling what the public reads. You can ban them because you don't agree with their ideas and you don't want to be complicit in propagating them. It's that simple: your house, your rules.

        If you really want people to be able to read the propaganda, don't worry: they publish their lies many places, not just on Twitter. There's no need to repeat their lies everywhere.
        • by hey! ( 33014 )

          Oh, I agree; if Twitter wanted to ban them they absolutely can do so. But there's also reasonable arguments for allowing user posted links to misleading information but flagging them.

          • One other benefit is that if the misinformation is there, you can challenge it (or mock it) and possibly someone who wouldn't see the truth elsewhere, might be exposed to it there.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • To some extent blocking them makes it look like Twitter doesn't want you know ... whatever the tweet said. It means Twitter is hiding something. Blocking them makes them the "victims of censorship".

      Not censoring it, but instead accurately labeling it as coming from Putin's government is probably the most effective way to take the power away from the propaganda.

      • by kmoser ( 1469707 )
        Nope. Blocking them simply means Twitter doesn't want any part of it. Censorship is when the government stifles free speech. When private industry blocks you, it's the free market speaking. The market owes propagandists nothing.
        • The *first amendment* relates to the federal government.

          From Merriam Webster:
          Definition of censor
          transitive verb

          : to examine in order to suppress (see SUPPRESS sense 2) or delete anything considered objectionable
          example: censor the news
          also : to suppress or delete as objectionable
          example: censor out indecent passages

          All of the major TV networks employ censors.
          For example Christine Hikawa is head of standards and practices at ABC. She has about 30 censors working under her.

          It's not *illegal* for CBS or Twitt

          • To clarify further, people regularly mix up the following terms:

            The FIRST AMENDMENT makes ILLEGAL for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT to CENSOR you.

            Censorship isn't illegal. ABC censored Roseanne Barr right off the air and that's fine.

            The first amendment says the federal government isn't allowed to engage in censorship.

      • The problem is theres a very sizeable number of conspiracy theory knuckleheads that see those "This post shitty propaganda" type labels and decide it MUST be true, after all what are they trying to hide.

        Its an oroborous of stupid, but after 4 years of batshit governance followed by 2 years of batshit antivaxers , theres enough teeth grinding idiots out there that see evidence of disproof as evidence of proof to make mere labeling somewhat innefective.

        You know what does work though? Kicking the stupid fucker

  • Then I can focus on the remaining 4 tweets.

    • by suss ( 158993 )

      Or you could just not visit twitter altogether?

    • Then I can focus on the remaining 4 tweets.

      Why? It's only propaganda when the other side says something.

    • Funny, but not a good time for that . . . should tweets be cited? Absolutely.

      I think we'd all benefit from knowing exactly who is behind most messaging.

      That's when you find out a chocolate company in the US is betting big on some opposition government in Wtfistan and you start to see funny stuff going on with supply chains etc.
  • Anyone who believes Twitter is still at the center of the social media universe has zero idea what is happening. Just like Facebook, it is a has been.

    There are a LOT of alternatives out there now that can and do believe in free speech, even for those with you do not agree.

    • by Mitreya ( 579078 )

      Twitter is still at the center of the social media universe

      So far, it is still receiving an inordinate amount of attention, even if it is not representative of the broader population.

  • Small change in policy. While people like George Kennan , William Burns and Henry Kissinger were once considered sensible hard core pragmatists when they warned that attempts to expand nato to include Ukraine are barking mad and a recipe for world war are no longer considered sensible but will now be labeled tools of the Kremlin with career ending consequences.
    This unofficial policy will now be cast into officialdom, ish, ness. Also this has always been the case.
    When someone forwards you a link which is lab

  • Someone please take this joke of a tech site off the Internet!

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