UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2023) The International Committee of the Red Cross finds the use of Twitter for staying in touch with the community in Ukraine crucial, but is concerned about misinformation targeting organizations following Elon Musk's takeover of the platform, ICRC Spokesperson in Kiev Achille Despres told Sputnik.
"It's very key that people, when we're trying to help, can reach out to us and can also explain to us the issue that they're facing. In Ukraine, a lot of people use Twitter. So this is something that is very useful for us," Depres told Sputnik.
But the ICRC official also flagged the danger of misinformation following Musk taking over Twitter.
"What's happening in the digital space - what's happening on Twitter, for example, when organizations are being criticized. Sometimes they're criticized for genuine reasons, but when you see plain misinformation, plain hate speech against organizations, this can have very dire consequences for the people working in these organizations," Despres said.
The ICRC is in touch with the team at Twitter to get updated on the new developments and the organization uses social media platforms with caution when receiving information related to the conflict, he added.
A study from August 2022 by scholars from the University of Adelaide, Australia found between 60 and 80 percent of Twitter handles posting on the Ukrainian crisis may be bot accounts. The paper said these bots can encourage people to flee their homes.
The scholars also found that 90.16% of accounts were pro-Ukrainian, 6.80% pro-Russian, and 3.04% with mixed behavior. The research also reveals that bots work on evoking fear and worry and this way shaping public opinion.
In late October 2022, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion. In November, a little over a week after taking over, Musk started laying off the company's workers in a bid to place Twitter "on a healthy path." According to the US businessman, the new version of social media will be much more efficient, transparent and unbiased.
