Several Ukrainian activists have had their accounts suspended since the start of the war.
On her Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter Inc. Report account, Yana Suporovska had just announced that she had raised 400,000 Ukrainian hryvna, or approximately $13,500, to buy a drone for the Ukrainian army.
Since Russian troops launched a full-scale war on the country in February, the journalist from Kyiv has ben using her following to fundraise for the needs of the army.
Since the start of the attack, thousands of civilians have been killed while over 10 million Ukrainians became internally displaced or fled to neighboring countries.
After one post about wanting to buy a drone for a friend of hers on the front line took off and raised the necessary money in hours, Suporovska started rallying her 23,000 Twitter followers to raise money for army drones throughout the month of May.
One Activist Blocked And Reinstated
But on June 7, Twitter users started reporting that Suporovska’s account had disappeared. The journalist had been on Twitter since 2009.
“Yana’s account was attacked after she posted about her efforts to raise money for Ukrainian defenders,” fellow Kyiv journalist Olga Tokariuk wrote in a post about. “It’s not the first case that Ukrainian volunteers’ accounts receive massive strikes and get banned by @Twitter.”
After several posts about Suporovska went viral, the account was reinstated.
In a thread explaining what happened, Suporovska claimed to be the subject of three coordinated attacks in which large numbers of people were reporting different posts.
“What did they complain about?” Suporovska wrote in Ukrainian on June 7. “For everything. New and old photos where I hug Leo [her son] people tried to file reports. The weak point ended up being the bank card that I use to collect donations.”
Others Still Suspended
Suporovska continued posting about the war but a number of Twitter users reported other accounts being deleted or suspended.
By mid-day on June 8, Ukrainian singer Svyatoslav Vakarchuk tweeted to draw attention to the fact that the account of @Olga_bilo4ka had been suspended.
The lead vocalist of well-known Ukrainian band Okean Elzy is a household name across Eastern Europe — Vakarchuk had a brief stint in the Ukrainian parliament and in recent years became more outspoken as a political activist.
“Hey @Twitter please unblock @Ola_Bilo4ka account,” Vakarchuk wrote. “I’m sure she was falsely flagged and suspended. @TwitterCreators. @TwitterSupport. Friends please help and RT this message.”
He wrote a similar post for the suspended account of Ola Suprun.
Twitter did not respond to TheStreet’s request for comment, or whether such suspensions could be the result of a coordinated attack.
In December, the company acknowledged that it had mistakenly suspended some accounts after a series of ‘coordinated and malidious’ reports.
In the early days of the war, news emerged of a Russia-backed bot farm that allegedly sent over 5,000 messages to members of Ukrainian military and police. Falsely claiming to come from the Ukrainian government, the text messages called on members of the Ukrainian security forces to surrender.
Since the start of the war, many Ukrainian users reported having their accounts suspended after trying to post fundraisers for the army.
While some are later reinstated, others may not be a mistake or the result of a targeted attack — @ArmedForcesUkr, which had been posting photos of the war, has been suspended since 2019 for reasons that Twitter has not released. (The platform almost never comments on individual suspensions.)
Where Does This Leave Musk?
All of this is taking place at a time when Elon Musk is poised to take over Twitter in a $44 billion deal.
The Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc. Report founder had repeatedly stated plans to roll back several of the platform’s current moderation policies in the name of “free speech.”
On June 6, Musk threatened to walk back from the deal over what he claimed was the company’s refusal prove data on fake accounts and spam. The impasse eventually led to Twitter agreeing to offer the data on June 8.
Musk’s insistence on less moderation could, in the case of Ukraine, lead to fewer activists being suspended but potentially could create a situation in which bots overrun accounts without moderation.
