The accounts of several Russian, Chinese and Iranian state media outlets saw a 70 percent increase in engagement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, after it removed labels identifying th…

The accounts of several Russian, Chinese and Iranian state media outlets saw a 70 percent increase in engagement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, after it removed labels identifying them as “state-affiliated,” according to a new report released Tuesday.

The recent analysis from NewsGuard, which analyzes media trends and disinformation, found that 12 state media accounts from the three countries saw the number of likes and reposts on their content jump from 2.93 million in the 90 days before X removed the “state-affiliated” labels to 4.98 million in the 90-day period afterward.

Russia’s RT, which was already receiving substantially more engagement than the other state media outlets before the label’s removal, saw interactions with its posts nearly double in the three months after the change, jumping from 1.3 million to 2.5 million.

Iran’s PressTV similarly saw its engagement increase by about 97 percent, rising from 215,000 to 425,000 interactions after X’s removal of the “state-affiliated” label, according to NewsGuard.

Russia’s TASS also saw a 63 percent increase in engagement, receiving 493,000 interactions in the three months after the change, while engagement with posts from China’s Global Times rose by 26 percent to 314,000 interactions.

    • @[email protected]English
      8•1 year ago

      You know NPR was literally included in xitter’s definition of “state-funded with editorial independence” until Musk shat himself right ?

      NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company said it accounts for less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget. But until Wednesday, the same Twitter guidelines said that “state-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the United States, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.”

      https://apnews.com/article/twitter-npr-state-affiliated-media-label-dea3e04905e423f7a8df9ba077d421f3

      • @WesleeEnglish
        5•1 year ago

        I think most people who live in the UK can tell you the BBC is extremely bias - they might not be controlled by the gov directly, but the people in charge are very pro right wing

        • @TattersEnglish
          2•1 year ago

          I live in the UK and I disagree with you. Assuming this right wing bias is true, how does it evidenced itself in the BBC’s programming and news coverage? Because I don’t see it. Especially their news, which seems very even-handed to me.

          • @WesleeEnglish
            -1•1 year ago

            I stopped paying for and watching the BBC a few years ago, before I cancelled there was so much conservative coverage, they were inviting way more members of the Tory party onto the news

        • @[email protected]English
          0•1 year ago

          A quick search says that BBC is regularly accused of bias in both directions. Australia’s ABC is definitely accused of both.

          Regardless. The policy doesn’t say anything about bias. It’s simply “editorial independence”.

      • @MasterBlasterEnglish
        1•1 year ago

        I heard about it. I am a fan of Marketplace. It’s just insane that he tried to silence it after all that free speech bullshit he sprouted, while he removed the notice on media literally owned by authoritarian states. He’s a wingnut. Up is down, good is bad, etc…

      • @MasterBlasterEnglish
        6•1 year ago

        Think of it this way: freedom is a threat to his business model.