Twitter’s move to drop labels warning that some accounts are ‘state-controlled media’ outlets has stoked a surge in propaganda by authoritarian governments in Russia, China and Iran, according to a report by AP, which quoted researchers in Britain who said the move had made it easier for these regimes to attract new followers and broadcast disinformation to a larger audience.
Russian state media accounts are getting a third more views than before the change a few weeks ago, according to Reset, a London-based non-profit that tracks authoritarian governments’ use of social media to spread propaganda, the report said, which noted posts that suggested the CIA was involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks, that Ukraine’s leaders were stealing foreign aid and that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was justified because the US was running secret biowarfare labs in the country. Hate speech and disinformation was also said to have thrived, it said.
Read the full report: Associated Press.
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