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Social media administration politically biased, Russian diplomat says

The spokeswoman noted that while digitalization of the information space made it possible to deliver Russian foreign policy positions to the widest audiences, it also "brought disinformation to a new level"

© EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Russian digital diplomacy in the social media faces increasingly strong censorship elements and political bias of its administration, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a video address to the Digital Technologies and Science Diplomacy conference participants.

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The spokeswoman noted that while digitalization of the information space made it possible to deliver Russian foreign policy positions, assessments and approaches to the widest audiences, it also "brought disinformation to a new level."

"Consequently, debunking fake news, unfortunately disseminated by Western media, has become a part of the routine," she pointed out. "Another problem is the political bias of the social media administration. We have to effectively act on a hostile territory amid increasingly strong elements of censorship and unfair competition."

There have been a lot of such situations recently, the diplomat added. "Yet still, we don’t give up. Working in the social media helps us open up the boundaries somewhat and stimulate direct contacts between both the countries and the ordinary people, who are far from politics. We see our goal in building bridges and removing conflict barriers. This is a perfect platform to make objective information about Russia available to everyone," she concluded.

In 2020, Facebook began labelling state-run accounts. Shortly, Twitter took the same decision in respect of accounts of governments and government media, though leaving media with independent editorial policy on the government payroll unlabeled. The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that Western media, unlike that of Russia, remained unlabelled, which, according to the ministry, constituted a violation of democratic principles of freedom of information. Later, Instagram followed suit. Maria Zakharova commented at the time that actions of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram appear to be coordinated.

YouTube also repeatedly restricted access to Russian media content. On October 30, the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media demanded that Google stop censoring Russian media materials.

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