Our ongoing approach to the war in Ukraine
Twitter says some of its users' access to the service is being restricted for some people in Russia. The company says its top priority is to promote the safety of people on and off the service. We take our collective role, and the role of our service, seriously.
We believe we have a responsibility to the public – particularly during periods of crisis – to proactively enforce our rules, preserve access to Twitter, elevate credible and reliable information, protect the privacy and safety of the people who use our service and others, and guard against efforts to manipulate the public conversation.
Over the past several weeks, people in Ukraine, Russia, and around the world have used Twitter to share critical information in real-time, locate support, connect with one another, and raise their voices. Unfortunately, we are also aware that Twitter is being restricted for some people in Russia. As we’ve said previously, we believe that a free and open internet is vital, and that people around the world should have the same access to information. We take our collective role, and the role of our service, seriously.
Below, we’re sharing updates to our approach and more detailed information about our efforts.Elevating reliable information
Given the important role that algorithms play in recommending and amplifying content online, we believe that content moderation must extend beyond the leave-up-take-down binary. Our approach is two-fold:
If content is in violation of the Twitter Rules, we’ll take enforcement action against it at the Tweet or account level – this includes content removal.
When the risks for immediate harm associated with a Tweet are less severe, but where left uncontextualized may mislead people, we focus on reducing its reach and not proactively amplifying the Tweets into peoples’ timelines. De-amplifying content significantly reduces its visibility and labels add important context.
From Home Timeline to Explore, we’re making it easier to find reliable updates and information and enhance safety.
Our curated Twitter Moments about the war in Ukraine share real-time news and resources in multiple languages, and have been viewed more than 20 billion times.*
Curators have contextualized~2,000 related Trends* in 14 countries and five languages since the beginning of the crisis. By attaching representative Tweets, writing explanatory titles and descriptions, or associating these Trends to Moments to give users even more context, we're helping to answer the question, "Why is this trending?"
Our Search and Home Timeline prompts surface critical digital safety and security resources in English, Ukrainian, and Russian.
Our dedicated event pages are available in 12 languages and in more than 67 countries – we continue to expand this tool.
We created a Topic to help people stay informed right in the Home Timeline, as well as a Twitter List featuring reliable news sources.
For people using Twitter in Ukraine and Russia, we’ve paused some Tweet recommendations from people not followed on Home Timeline to reduce the risk of spreading unhealthy content.
More broadly, we’re working across features like Topics, Lists, and Spaces to reinforce safety measures and guard against misuse – it’s important these tools are reliable and trustworthy.
We continue to engage and support humanitarian organizations on the ground. Through our giving campaign for Twitter employees, we’re routing donations to recognized organizations directly supporting Ukrainian refugees, matching all donations, and making direct contributions to partner organizations.
We’re also providing high-value product donations and Ads for Good grants to help further these organizations’ critical work and amplify their message on Twitter. So far, these campaigns have made more than 118,271,185 impressions* on Twitter.
Source: Twitter blog
