Twitter labeling links to Russian state media

Twitter announced Monday that it will begin adding labels to tweets containing links to Russian state-affiliated media websites.

The platform already applied labels to state media accounts, but Monday’s announcement extends that designation to links shared by all users.

“Since the invasion, we’ve seen more than 45,000 Tweets a day sharing links to Russian state-affiliated media outlets,” Twitter site integrity lead Yoel Roth tweeted. “While we’ve labeled the accounts of hundreds of global state media outlets for years, Tweets sharing their content lacked visible context.”

Links to state-affiliated media from other countries will receive similar labels in the “coming weeks,” the company said.

Russian state media, including the government-funded RT, has been pushing the narrative that the country’s invasion of Ukraine is being done to liberate separatist-held areas in eastern Ukraine.

Beyond making the connection between those media sources and the Russian government more visible, Twitter has also reduced the visibility and amplification of links to them.

Facebook, Google and YouTube have all in recent days restricted the ability of Russian state media platforms to monetize content on their platforms.