Twitter will flag and reduce the reach of state-controlled financially and editorially-controlled media accounts on its platform, in a new effort to curb political influence campaigns from overseas, the California group said Thursday.
"Unlike independent media, state-linked media frequently use their news coverage for political purposes," explains the social network, which is stepping up measures to preserve its reputation and the authenticity of exchanges, especially in the near future. American elections. "We believe that people have a right to know when a media's account is directly or indirectly affiliated with a state actor," adds Twitter, which will include prominent editors and journalists of these media in this new rule.
Facebook had taken the lead
Accounts thus tagged will no longer be highlighted by its algorithms in user recommendation windows. Media funded by state institutions but enjoying "editorial independence", such as the BBC or NPR (National Public Radio, an American media), will not be affected.
Facebook took similar action in early June, marking state-controlled media accounts as such and banning them from posting ads. After the manipulation operations during the 2016 elections, mainly orchestrated from Russia, social networks reacted with an arsenal of measures gradually deployed since 2018 to fight against false accounts and disinformation, in particular spread by foreign entities.
Last fall, Twitter totally banned political advertising. The tweet network will now also label the official accounts of governments and their senior officials, starting with those of the five members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States), but without restricting their scope.
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