Twitter revokes restrictions on accounts of Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials

Twitter has lifted its limits on searches for accounts belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Foreign Ministry of Russia, and the Russian Embassy in London. These Kremlin-affiliated accounts were blocked, in late February of last year, when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Telegraph reported. 

Twitter said it would not be promoted on the platform when placing limits on the Russian government accounts in April, making it difficult to find them. However, according to the Telegraph, Kremlin-linked accounts are now highlighted in Twitter's algorithm-driven "For You" feed for new users at the top of particular search results and appear in suggestions to follow.

“It would be exceedingly unlikely that this change would have happened accidentally or without the knowledge and direction of the company's staff,” a former Twitter employee told the Telegraph.

'Our algorithm is overly complex,' says Elon Musk

Last October, Elon Musk paid $44 billion to acquire Twitter, and since then he has "promoted free speech" by rolling back several of the social network's moderation initiatives. Twitter's limits on state-controlled media accounts were loosened last week. These restrictions were put in place in 2020. Musk promised to reveal the algorithm for suggesting tweets on March 17.

Elon took to Twitter and said, "Our “algorithm” is overly complex & not fully understood internally. People will discover many silly things, but we’ll patch issues as soon as they’re found! We’re developing a simplified approach to serve more compelling tweets, but it’s still a work in progress. That’ll also be open source. Providing code transparency will be incredibly embarrassing at first, but it should lead to rapid improvement in recommendation quality. Most importantly, we hope to earn your trust."

Our “algorithm” is overly complex & not fully understood internally. People will discover many silly things , but we’ll patch issues as soon as they’re found!

We’re developing a simplified approach to serve more compelling tweets, but it’s still a work in progress. That’ll also…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)