Significantly reduced recommendations for government accounts in conflict, indicating that Twitter will remove content from prisoners of war

Twitter has updated its policy approach to the invasion of Ukraine by announcing that it will require the removal of tweets posted by government or state-related media accounts if it contains 'photos and videos of prisoners of war in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.'

Our ongoing approach to the war in Ukraine
https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2022/our-ongoing-approach-to-the-war-in-ukraine

Twitter's private information policy and doxxing | Twitter Help
https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information

Twitter takes a harder line on POW photos and shadowbans Russian government accounts --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/5/23012046/twitter-prisoner-of-war-pow-photos-rules-russian-government-accounts

Regarding this policy update, Twitter said, 'POWs must always be treated humanely. Illegal acts or omissions in the detaining country will cause the detained prisoners to die or pose a serious risk to their health. It says that it is to prevent the Twitter platform from being used to disseminate content that violates Article 13 of the Geneva Convention , 'I ban it and recognize it as a serious breach of this Convention.' However, 'unavoidable public interest and content of prisoners of war with news value' is an exception.

We're doing so in line with international humanitarian law, and in consultation with international human rights groups. To protect essential reporting on the war, some exceptions apply under this guidance where there is a compelling public interest or newsworthy POW content.

— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) April 5, 2022

The Slate , an overseas news site, points out that this policy update is due to the problematic posting of images of soldiers killed in action by the Ukrainian government and videos interrogating prisoners of war. .. Regarding the sharing of images and videos of POWs on Twitter by the Ukrainian government, he said, 'The images and videos may violate international law, but in this case it is acceptable.' The context is not particularly important in conflict, and sharing of images and videos should be prohibited in principle. We should not discuss on a case-by-case basis whether it is good or bad to be exposed to public curiosity. ' increase.

'We don't spread or recommend government accounts in countries involved in conflict,' said Yor Ross, head of Twitter's 'Site Integrity' division. Twitter blocks in those countries. It doesn't matter if it's done or not, 'he said, revealing that government accounts in conflicting countries will be significantly reduced in frequency of timeline recommendations, search results, and so on.

What does this mean?

We won't recommend these accounts, and we won't encourage them across the Home Timeline, Explore, Search, and in other places on Twitter. This measure drastically reduces the chance that people on Twitter see Tweets from these accounts unless they follow them. ..

— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) April 5, 2022

Twitter describes the set of policy additions as 'to fairly add context to conversations about global conflicts.'