Russian, Chinese propaganda surging on Twitter amid platform changes

Twitter accounts run by authoritarian governments in Russia, China and Iran have benefited from recent changes at the social media company, making it easier to attract new followers and spread propaganda and disinformation to a larger audience.

The platform no longer labels state-controlled media and propaganda agencies, and will no longer automatically ban their content from being promoted or recommended to users. Together, the two changes, both made in the past few weeks, have supercharged the Kremlin’s ability to use US-based platforms to spread lies and misleading claims about the invasion of Ukraine, US politics and other topics.

Russian state media accounts now get 33 percent more views than they did just a few weeks ago, before the change was made, according to a report by Reset, a London-based non-profit that tracks the authoritarian government’s use of social media for propaganda. propaganda. Reset’s findings were first reported by The Associated Press.

That increase can amount to more than 125,000 additional views per post. The posts included those suggesting the CIA was involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, that Ukrainian leaders stole foreign aid for the country, and that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was justified because the US was conducting clandestine biowarfare. laboratories in the country.

State media agencies run by Iran and China have seen similar increases in engagement since Twitter quietly made the change.

Hate speech, disinformation flourish

The move from the platform is the latest development since billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter last year. Since then, they have created a new verification system that has confused and killed many of the company’s staff, including those dedicated to fighting misinformation, allowing neo-Nazis and others who were previously suspended from the site, and ending the site’s policy of banning dangerous COVID-19 . wrong information. Hate speech and disinformation are rampant.

Before the latest change, Twitter attached a label that read “Russian state-affiliated media” to let users know the origin of the content. It also curtails the Kremlin’s online engagement by making its accounts ineligible for promotions or automatic recommendations — something it routinely does to regular accounts as a way to help them reach a larger audience.

The label quietly disappeared after National Public Radio and other outlets objected to Musk’s plan to label it as state-affiliated media.

NPR later announced it would no longer use Twitter, saying the label was misleading, given the independence of NPR’s editors, and would damage its credibility.

CBC’s own account was labeled “government-funded media,” prompting the company to pause its Twitter activity.

The conclusion of the reset was confirmed by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Laboratory, where researchers determined that the change may have been made by Twitter late last month. Dozens of previously labeled accounts have steadily lost followers since Twitter began using the label. But after the change, many accounts saw a big jump in followers.

RT Arabic, one of Russia’s most popular propaganda accounts on Twitter, has fallen below 5,230,000 followers on January 1, but rebounded after changes were implemented, found DFRL. Now it has more than 5,240,000.

Before the change, users interested in looking for Kremlin propaganda had to search specifically for such accounts or content. Now, it can be recommended or promoted just like any other content.

“Twitter users do not have to actively seek out state-sponsored content to be seen on the platform; they can only be served,” DFRL said.

Twitter did not respond to questions about the change or the reason for it. Musk has made comments in the past suggesting that there is no difference between state-funded propaganda agencies operated by authoritarian strongmen and independent news outlets in the west.

“All news sources are partly propaganda,” he tweeted last year, “some more than others.”