Twitter has banned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s account, besides downgrading 299 official Russian government accounts as well, according to media reports.
The microblogging platform in a statement said these accounts will no longer be recommended in timelines, notifications or anywhere else on the site, Republicworld reported.
The social media site added that it would take action against any nation which “restricts access to the open internet while they're engaged in armed conflict".
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However, ever since Putin announced a ‘special’ military operation in Ukraine on February 24, Twitter has been limited in Russia. It is to note here that Twitter’s announcement came as the Russian President has two official accounts on the website. While one account is in Russian and another is in English, these are jointly followed by around 5.3 million people. According to BBC, Twitter has noted that allowing Russian government officials to post freely on the site while limiting the platform in Russia itself “creates a harmful information imbalance".
The action announced by Twitter implies that content on over 300 official Russian government accounts will no longer be “recommended or amplified”.