Ukraine’s official Twitter account has a message for the social media platform: Get Russia out of here.
Thursday, the verified account of Ukraine posted an appeal to the people of Twitter, asking them to demand that Twitter remove the official Russia account from the platform. The request comes amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing disinformation and cyber wars the country is waging to support it.
The account tweeted that there’s “no place for an aggressor like Russia on Western social media platforms.” It said that Russia shouldn’t be able to use Twitter as a way to disseminate propaganda while waging war on civilians.
Ukraine also has official accounts on Facebook and Instagram, but it has not posted a similar appeal to Meta.
Ukraine’s account has been documenting Russia’s attack, imploring followers to read and share verified sources of information. Meanwhile, the Russia account has continued its business as usual, sharing images about Russian holidays, history, and culture. Apparently, Wednesday was a national holiday previously known as “Red Army Day.”
Given this head-in-the-clouds behavior, it seems unlikely that @Russia has violated any Twitter rules. The issue social media companies are already grappling with is pro-Russia networks spreading disinformation about what led up to the invasion and what’s going on on the ground.
Mashable has reached out to Twitter to ask whether they have a response to the Ukraine account’s request, and if there is any policy that guides how a social media platform should treat the official Twitter account of a country that’s openly waging war on another country.
