Invasion of Ukraine and disinformation: Twitter is not prepared to moderate a war


Social network

Article reserved for subscribers

War between Ukraine and Russiacase

A few hours before the start of the conflict, the company mistakenly suspended accounts reporting information on the Russian attack. A misstep indicative of an urgent need: to close the loopholes in network moderation.

Like the impression of having thrust your head into the steeple of a belfry. For days, social networks have been awash in information. Some are reassuring. Others alarming. Some are true. Others not completely. Many, in any case, give the impression that they could further stir up hatred between Russians and Ukrainians.

In this context and a few hours before war was declared, Twitter made a big mistake by suspending the accounts of specialists in the verification of online information relating to the Russian invasion. So much so that we worry about the network with more than 145 million daily users: is it strong enough to moderate tweets in times of war?

Some punch operations

“You broke the rules of Twitter.” This is the only explanation that Oliver Alexander, one of the specialists concerned, received from the American company to explain the suspension of his account.

Asma Mhalla, expert in cyberpolitics, analysis with Freed : “It’s likely a campaign of fake bot accounts – presumably Russian ones – that reported en masse to trick Twitter into shutting them down.”

The assumption is challenged by Twitter’s Chief Integrity Officer, Yoel Roth. In a tweethe explains that the network does not delete “automatically”content only from the number of si…





Source link -83