Twitter downgrades tweets about Russian invasion of Ukraine

On March 31, Twitter revealed the code of its algorithm that generates a feed of recommended posts. Researchers began to study it and found out that tweets related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine are marked as disinformation and got downgraded.

As reported by NV, due to this policy, users are less likely to see posts about Ukraine in their feed, and accounts dedicated to the war coverage will receive less engagement.

What is wrong with Twitter algorithms?

Users, who often tweet about the war in Ukraine, have seen less engagement on their accounts since Musk took over the platform last October.

“First, we had issues with Ukrainian numbers on Twitter. Now, after Twitter revealed it’s algorithm, we see that posts about Ukraine are downgraded.

No biggie, just posts about a country that was invaded & where people keep fighting for their lives daily…wonder who this benefits,”

UNITED24.media wrote.

It is important to note that it is impossible to clearly determine the logic of work of the Twitter algorithms from the published code, as well as to state unequivocally that they impact on the downgrading of the tweets about Ukraine. However, according to researchers, posts about Ukraine are labeled as misinformation, and everything that is classified as misinformation is downgraded.

What is wrong with Elon Musk?

Musk himself, on the one hand, provides Ukraine with Starlink satellite terminals, which we use to maintain communication, and on the other hand, he regularly promotes theses of Russian propaganda and offers to reduce aid to Ukraine in order to “not escalate the conflict.”

For example, commenting on a 2014 article by American scholar John Mearsheimer, called the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine in 2013-2014 a coup d’état. To clarify, it is a rhetoric of the Russian government. In response, Ukrainian authorities recommended Musk stop reading Russian newspapers.

Previously, we also wrote about Maye Musk’s participation in We Convention conference, an event organized by Russian-founded organization Women’s Empowerment Council. That move looked like a controversial and incomprehensible decision as well, considering the fact that she has expressed their admiration for the courage of Ukrainians and called for donations to support the Ukrainian army on her Twitter right back in April.