Musk lifted restrictions on Russian and Chinese state media accounts on Twitter - they are back in search and recommendations

Chinese and Russian media can once again operate without restrictions on Twitter. Elon Musk has decided to remove "sanctions" from them.

Here's What We Know

In 2020, the social network began tagging media accounts that are controlled by governments. Publications containing links to government websites were tagged with "Stay informed" tags, which reminded them of editorial control by China and russia. In addition, such accounts were blocked in search. These restrictions have now been lifted.

Interestingly, Twitter's policy still states that state-affiliated media outlets should be marked accordingly. Despite this, the accounts of a number of Chinese and Russian state-owned media outlets are now showing up in search again. For example, People's Daily, Izvestia and Xinhua. Moreover, these accounts are displayed at the top of the search. They also appear in the "For You" recommendations, where from April 15, 2023, only the publications of verified accounts will be visible.

The NPR (National Public Radio) account has been flagged as a media affiliate of the US government. Twitter had previously promised not to add labels to publications such as the BBC and NRP. The latter was removed from Twitter's policy. The company requested the removal of the mark, but Elon Musk responded that he felt the decision was correct.

Source: Bloomberg, Semafor