The Russian embassy’s tweet about the Mariupol blast has been removed from Twitter
Following protest from Downing Street, Twitter has removed a message from the Russian embassy in London regarding the Mariupol hospital explosion that claimed the facility was no longer operational and that photographs of the incident were manufactured.
No. 10 accused the embassy of spreading misinformation on Twitter after it shared images of the bombing labelled “false.” A series of follow-up tweets, including one claiming that a bombing victim was “played” by a beauty blogger, were also removed after Twitter stated that they “violated the Twitter rules.”
Earlier, a Boris Johnson official told reporters, “It is evident that this is another misinformation.” You’ve seen the photos of those injured in the attack, and you’ve read what the prime minister said in his tweet yesterday.”
The Foreign Office spokeswoman claimed he was “not aware” of any “particular conversations” regarding reprimanding the embassy for the social media post.
When asked if Johnson wanted social media networks to deactivate the embassy’s accounts, the spokeswoman said, “That’s clearly a decision for Twitter, but we’ve been clear that that is disinformation.” You’ve seen an increase in the number of civilians who have been targeted and, tragically, injured or killed as a result of Russian attacks.”
Britain and the United States are concerned that Russia is prepared to use a chemical weapon in Ukraine, after Kremlin officials made separate assertions, without evidence, that the US was aiding a bioweapons programme in Ukraine. According to reports, Twitter has determined that the “toxins” message does not violate its content guidelines.
On Thursday, Eliot Higgins, the founder of the investigative journalism website Bellingcat, encouraged Twitter to “take these propaganda-spewing accounts off.” He questioned the embassy’s tweets about the Mariupol hospital attack, which damaged a combined 600-bed building including children’s and maternity units.
The Russian embassy tweeted out images of the bombing, including one of a pregnant woman hurt on the stairs, with the word “FAKE” written over the post.
The cultural secretary, Nadine Dorries, accused the embassy of spreading fake news and said it had been reported to Twitter.
According to a Twitter spokeswoman, the tweets were removed “because they were in violation of the Twitter Rules, specifically our Hateful Conduct and Abusive Behavior regulations related to the denial of violent events.”
The Russian embassy has backed the Kremlin’s message on the war, posting unverified assertions on Wednesday that Ukrainians were organising a “provocation using poisons” to accuse Russia of using chemical weapons.
In a subsequent tweet, the embassy claimed that a Ukrainian beauty blogger “played the roles of both pregnant women” in the photos it had highlighted, prompting Higgins to tweet that the blogger in issue, Marianna Podgurskaya, had posted pictures of her pregnancy on Instagram last month.
The Russian Embassy doesn't mention she's clearly pregnant in images on her Instagram account, hence why she'd be in the MATERNITY HOSPITAL RUSSIA BOMBED https://t.co/zt6D22MFlX https://t.co/pshnp4jx8r pic.twitter.com/WVp1FPg0ZR
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) March 10, 2022
