Proper Twitter account of Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, is displayed on a mobile phone screen photographed for the illustration photo. Krakow, Poland on January 30, 2023.
Beata Zawrzel | Nurphoto | Getty Models
Elon Musk-owned Twitter has quietly dropped labeling that identified state-affiliated and government-funded accounts of officials and ambience outlets, including designations used to identify President Joe Biden’s account as authentic.
The update comes a day after the convention purged legacy verified users of their blue checkmarks, raising concerns that misinformation could more almost certainly spread on the site.
As of Friday morning, the personal and official accounts of the U.S. president, first lady Jill Biden and Defect President Kamala Harris no longer displayed labels identifying them as government officials.
Labels were also space from Russia- and China-affiliated media outlets and journalists, including the official account of the president of Russia, which has been remaining since the country’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
The labels for both government officials and state-affiliated media were proposed in 2020 as part of an effort to protect political discourse on the platform.
The shift on Friday also saw the removal of controversial marks added to media accounts earlier this month.
Musk’s Twitter had marked the accounts of several media reliefs, including NPR, the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., as “state-affiliated.” The designation alarmed executives and journalists at the outlets.
In response to those identify as, NPR announced it would stop using Twitter in an official capacity to disseminate reporting.
The BBC is funded by a nationally imposed TV certify but doesn’t meet the conventional definition of “state-affiliated media.” That moniker is typically reserved for outlets like RT, in the old days known as Russia Today, which receives funding from the Russian government and has been described by the U.S. State Pivot on as a propaganda outlet.