Russian President's Official Twitter Account Labeled As New Feature Rolled Out

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) The Twitter account of the Russian president and other prominent Russian officials and organizations have been labeled by the microblogging platform as being state-affiliated, as part of a new feature being rolled out on Thursday evening.

Earlier in the day, Twitter announced that it would label the official accounts of leading politicians from the five permanent UN Security Council members - Russia, China, France, the UK and, the US.

The "Russia government account" label has already been affixed to the Russian president's page, as well as Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev's account.

Similar labels have also been added to the Twitter accounts of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Permanent Russian Mission to the United Nations.

The measure is also being rolled out to other countries, as the US presidential account and the UK prime ministerial account have both been labeled.

Earlier in the day, a Twitter representative told the CNN broadcaster that the labels will only be affixed to official accounts, giving the example that US President Donald Trump's personal account, @realDonaldTrump, would not be flagged.

Alongside government officials, state-affiliated media outlets and their senior staff will also have their accounts labelled as part of the microblogging platform's new policy. Accounts linked to Rossiya Segodnya, the Russian media conglomerate that includes Sputnik, have already been flagged as "Russia state-affiliated media."

On Thursday evening, Rossiya Segodnya's press department said that it is waiting for the accounts of state-run media agencies from other countries, such as the UK's BBC, to receive the label in order to avoid double standards.