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Russia-owned media member decries being labeled as Russian state media by Twitter and gets swift backlash
Image Source: Russia Today YouTube video screenshot

Russia-owned media member decries being labeled as Russian state media by Twitter and gets swift backlash

A media reporter who works for Russian state-owned media angrily denounced Twitter for adding a label proclaiming the affiliation to her tweets, and she saw swift backlash online.

Rachel Blevins is a co-host for the financial new show "Boom Bust," which is a subsidiary by Russia Today, a media company openly owned and run by the Russian government, but she denounced the injustice of being labeled accurately by Twitter on Monday.

"Twitter just added the 'Russian state media affiliated' label to my account," Blevins groused. "I am asking for the immediate removal of this label, due to the fact that I am an individual journalist who does not speak for Russia or Russian media."

Blevins later deleted the tweet after she was excoriated by many on social media platforms for the suggestion that she was being treated unfairly, but screenshots were widely circulated.

Many ridiculed her for suggesting the accurate label was a grave injustice.

"Well, being you, I wouldn’t complain. It could be 'blood on hands' label. And all your colleagues working for Russian state-funded media could have it as well. I would rather be homeless than work for Putin," replied Czech journalist Filip Horký.

"You literally host a show on RT - Russian state media," responded U.K. reporter Ben Bloch. "Not entirely sure how you can complain that you don't speak for the Russian government when it literally pays your wages."

"If you don't want to be identified as Russian state media, don't be Russian state media. Happy to help!" said one detractor.

"It's going to blow your mind when you find out who you work for," joked another user.

Not all laughed at Blevins, however. One columnist who worked for Chinese state-owned media agreed with her claim of injustice.

"I just got my label last week too — Twitter is on a roll," tweeted Andy Boreham.

Twitter announced on Monday that they would be labeling tweets with hyperlinks to Russian state-owned media and also throttling their spread through Twitter's algorithm.

Blevins was also upset in April when Twitter suspended her account for posting a very graphic video of a U.S. military operation that she admitted would be upsetting to the families of the deceased.

Here's more about the war on misinformation:

The efforts to fight misinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukrainewww.youtube.com

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