Twitter Allows Death Threats Against Russians in New Ukraine War Policy
By Ben Norton – Mar 10, 2022
Twitter updated its terms of service to allow users to call for the deaths of Russian politicians and soldiers, due to the war in Ukraine. This comes soon after US Senator Lindsey Graham called for assassinating President Vladimir Putin, and Facebook greenlighted support for Ukrainian Nazis.
Twitter has made an exception to its rules that now allows for users to make death threats against Russians, due to the war in Ukraine.
The Daily Beast quietly reported on March 8 that it had obtained an internal Twitter memo that states, “Based on the current safety guidelines on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, content wishing, hoping or calling for serious harm against leaders of the Russian government, military leaders, soldiers or para-military fighters will result in No Action.”
That is to say, now that Western governments are sending billions of dollars of weapons to Ukrainian insurgents and essentially waging a war on Russia, the social media company gave its users the green light to discuss killing Russian politicians and soldiers.
Like most major Silicon Valley corporations, Twitter is a US government contractor, and has worked with the Department of Homeland Security while taking money to promote US state propaganda outlets.
This policy update came after prominent right-wing US Senator Lindsey Graham used Twitter to call for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Republican politician tweeted on March 3, “Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military? The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country—and the world—a great service.”
Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?
The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out.
You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 4, 2022
Graham, a major ally of former president Donald Trump, was echoing similar comments he had made in an interview with conservative talk show host Sean Hannity on Fox News.
The Daily Beast reported on March 4 that a Twitter spokesperson had told the website “that Graham’s posts did not violate the platform’s rules against violent threats and incitement of physical harm. Therefore, no action will be taken against the tweets.”
Twitter’s decision to allow death threats against Russians comes after Facebook reversed its ban on users praising Ukrainian Nazis.
Facebook is also a US government contractor, and has worked with the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security.
The social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, said it now allows posts praising Ukraine’s explicitly neo-Nazi and white-supremacist Azov regiment because it is part of the country’s national guard and is fighting Russia.
Featured image: People walking in front of the iconic Kremlin, Moscow, in summer. File photo.
Ben Norton
Benjamin Norton is the founder and editor of the independent news website Multipolarista, where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish. Benjamin has reported from numerous countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and more. His journalistic work has been published in dozens of media outlets, and he has done interviews on Sky News, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, El Financiero Bloomberg, Al Mayadeen teleSUR, RT, TRT World, CGTN, Press TV, HispanTV, Sin Censura, and various TV channels in Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Benjamin writes a regular column for Al Mayadeen (in English and Spanish). He was formerly a reporter with the investigative journalism website The Grayzone, and previously produced the political podcast and video show Moderate Rebels. His personal website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
