Twitter takes a harder line on POW photos and shadowbans Russian government accounts

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If the images or videos show prisoners of war from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, then they will have to be removed from the accounts. The company said it would reduce the chances of people seeing posts from Russian government accounts.

In its most recent updates to a post detailing how the company is responding to the conflict, the company says it is meant to ensure its platform isn't used to spread content that violates the Geneva Conventions, one of which requires prisoners of war be protected.

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

There will be exceptions for compelling public interest or newsworthy POW content, according to a thread by the head of site integrity. If a post is allowed to stay up, users will see a warning. Content that is shared with abusive intent will be removed.

In a conflict where one side is a clear aggressor, sharing media depicting POWs is controversial. The videos of prisoners of war posted by the Ukrainian government seem to suggest that some Russian soldiers have been lied to by their government and are also suffering because of the invasion. Malcolm Nance acknowledged that the images may violate international law but said that it was acceptable in this instance.

Others disagree. Slate spoke to a law professor about the media being posted, and he argued that context wasn't important in this kind of conflict. The Conventions should be used as a blanket policy.

The paper written by Gordon Risius and Michael Meyer was part of the international review of the Red Cross. It says that the media can be used against the prisoners or their families by their governments and that pictures can be staged, making it hard to rely on them as evidence of humane treatment.

This debate has been going on for a long time. The Red Cross paper from Risius and Meyer was written after the Gulf War and argues that the convention needs to be updated for the age of mass media. The article about protecting against insults and public curiosity has been around for over a century. The invasion of Iraq was a topic of debate. The new rules allow for essential reporting, but it does not allow states to share images of POWs.

In addition to its rules around POWs, the Russian government accounts have been shadowbanning by removing them from follow recommendations and on people's timelines. The action will be taken against states that limit access to free information and are engaged in armed interstate conflict, according to the thread.

What does this mean?



We won’t recommend these accounts, and we won't amplify 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

The reason for the decision is that a government blocking access to a service while continuing to post on it creates a severe information imbalance. Even if it isn't among the platforms being banned in a country, it will still apply the rules.