Rossiya Segodnya Agency Expects Equal Approach From Twitter Over Labeling Of State Media

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) Rossiya Segodnya, the Russian media conglomeration that includes Sputnik, expects Twitter to apply a new labeling system that flags state-affiliated media outlets and their senior staff equally in order to avoid double standards, the press department of the agency said on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the microblogging platform announced that it would label accounts that represent state-affiliated media agencies, as well as their editors-in-chief and other members of senior staff.

"We are closely following the developing situation and we are waiting for Twitter to begin, in order to avoid accusations of double standards, to label the US Radio Liberty, the British BBC, and the German Deutsche Welle in the same way. This corresponding request has already been sent to Twitter by our correspondents," the agency said.

As of Thursday evening, multiple accounts linked to Rossiya Segodnya, including Sputnik and RIA Novosti, have already been tagged on Twitter as "Russia state-affiliated media."�

This feature will first be rolled out to agencies from the five countries that are permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia, France, China, the US, and the UK.

State-affiliated media outlets from these countries will also be removed from recommendation lists seen by users, Twitter said.