Twitter and Facebook have taken down a Russian embassy tweet about the hospital bombing in Mariupol.
Twitter Inc and Meta Platform’s Facebook have removed posts about the bombing of a children’s hospital in Mariupol from the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom for violating their rules against denying violent events, the companies said on Thursday.
According to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, three people were killed, including a child, in an airstrike on the city’s maternity and children’s hospital on Wednesday.
Why did Twitter and Facebook take it down?
According to a Twitter spokesperson, the tweets were removed because they violated the social media company’s policies on hateful and abusive behavior.
Twitter has been restricted in Russia in retaliation for the European Union’s blocking of Russian state-owned media content on the service.
Fake news on the Mariupol attack?
One of the tweets from the Russian Embassy included images with the word “fake” written on them and stated that the maternity house was no longer operational and was being used by Ukrainian armed forces.
Following a Downing Street protest, Twitter removed a message from the Russian embassy in London about the Mariupol hospital explosion, claiming that the facility was no longer operational and that photographs of the incident were fabricated.
A series of follow-up tweets, including one claiming that a bombing victim was “played” by a beauty blogger, was also removed by Twitter after it was determined that they “violated the Twitter rules.”
What is Onion Service?
During the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow refers to as a “special operation,” Moscow has restricted Twitter and blocked Meta-owned Facebook.
Twitter has also launched a “onion service,” a privacy-protected version of its site that can be accessed via the dark web and could circumvent such restrictions.
Published by – Kiruthiga K
Edited by – Kritika Kashyap
