BREAKING: Starting today, Twitter is labelling accounts "belonging to state-affiliated media entities, their editors-in-chief, and/or their senior staff".
Just checked the accounts of China's Xinhua and People's Daily, and also Russia's RT and Sputnik; and the labels are there
Just checked the accounts of China's Xinhua and People's Daily, and also Russia's RT and Sputnik; and the labels are there
"State-affiliated media is defined as outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution," says Twitter.
Accounts of "key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders" will also be labelled. So @POTUS has been labelled, but not @realDonaldTrump
The exact same labelling system has been applied to UK government accounts. @10DowningStreet has been labelled, but @BorisJohnson has not. Foreign Secretary @DominicRaab has also been labelled
It's important to note the labels for government officials will only apply to the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council: US, UK, Russia, China and France.
The accounts of the Kremlin and the Russian foreign ministry have been labelled
The accounts of the Kremlin and the Russian foreign ministry have been labelled
Same issue here with French government accounts. President Macron's personal account @EmmanuelMacron has not been labelled. But @Elysee, foreign minister @JY_LeDrian and prime minister @JeanCASTEX have all been labelled
The Chinese foreign ministry and one of its somewhat controversial spokespeople Zhao Lijian have been labelled. And two more well-known Chinese media outlets, @CCTV and @CGTNOfficial, have also got "state-affiliated media" labels
Another interesting Chinese account that's got a label is that of the outspoken editor-in-chief of Global Times
@HuXijin_GT.
Three other Russian outlets that have labels: @RTUKnews, state-owned @tvrussia1, and Sputnik's Persian language account
@HuXijin_GT.
Three other Russian outlets that have labels: @RTUKnews, state-owned @tvrussia1, and Sputnik's Persian language account
Just a reminder that Facebook did the exact same thing in June. Media outlets that are "wholly or partially controlled by a state" are labelled. The labels appear in page transparency and ad library
Twitter says media outlets that are partly or wholly funded by a state but are allowed to maintain editorial independence, "like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example", will not be labelled. Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have also not been labelled
This, to me, is the most interesting paragraph in Twitter's announcement. From today, tweets by RT, Sputnik, People's Daily, Xinhua, CGTN, CCTV, and all the other "state-affiliated" accounts will no longer be promoted on home timeline, notifications and search. A huge change
Russia's Tass news agency has been labelled. Ruptly, a division of RT, has also been handed a label. France 24 and Al Hurra have not been labelled. DM me please if you think there are any other media outlets that I should check and add to this thread
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT English who interviewed the two suspects of Salisbury poisonings, has been labelled. @inthenow, the slick video channel, and RT Arabic have also been labelled. Many thanks to @juliamacfarlane @RobertMackey and @monaelswah for highlighting
I keep being asked about the CBC, Press TV, Al Jazeera, TRT, etc. I've already addressed this. Please read the thread. Twitter says only accounts from US, UK, France, Russia and China are being labelled.
Radio Free Asia and Radio France are not labelled, thanks @noalsilencio
Radio Free Asia and Radio France are not labelled, thanks @noalsilencio
A few more interesting examples of how Twitter is applying the labels in relation to official government accounts. The State Department has been labelled, but the Pentagon has not. The UK Foreign Office has got a label, but the Ministry of Defence has not
The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs has been labelled. Hua Chunying, another Chinese foreign ministry spokesperon, has also been given a label
Here are two interesting ones. iPanda, an online channel that live-streams giant pandas, got a label because its parent company is CCTV (also labelled). The Berlin-based "grassroots" media startup Redfish has also got a label because of its parent company Ruptly (also labelled)
You can read our full story about Twitter's labelling of accounts belonging to "state-affiliated media" as well as
"key government officials" from the US, UK, France, Russia and China here
bbc.co.uk/news/technolog…
"key government officials" from the US, UK, France, Russia and China here
bbc.co.uk/news/technolog…
