Twitter once muzzled Russian and Chinese state propaganda. That's over now – NPR

Under Twitter CEO Elon Musk, the company has stopped its previous practice of limiting the spread of tweets from Russian, Chinese and Iranian government media accounts. Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images Under Twitter CEO Elon Musk, the company has stopped its previous practice of limiting the spread of tweets from Russian, Chinese and Iranian government media accounts. Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images Dmitry Medvedev, a leading government official and former president of Russia, took to Twitter earlier this month to denigrate Ukraine in a post using language reminiscent of genocidal regimes. And Twitter didn’t stop him. In his 645-word tweet titled, “WHY WILL UKRAINE DISAPPEAR? BECAUSE NOBODY NEEDS IT,” Medvedev called Ukraine a “Nazi regime,” “blood-sucking parasites” and “a threadbare quilt, torn, shaggy, and greasy.” The post garnered more than 7,000 retweets and 11,000 likes. One response, though, asked Twitter CEO Elon Musk why he allowed Russian officials to broadcast tweets like this, especially when they used language often associated with genocide. “All news is to some degree propaganda,” Musk responded. “Let people decide for themselves.” Musk’s stance of allowing Russian government posts to pop up freely on people’s feeds has
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