Here’s Why Facebook And Twitter Suggest Those In Ukraine Close Or Lock Down Their Accounts
It’s happened before. Russia has used social media as a weapon to spread disinformation — manipulating what information is released and spread.
Now that Russia has invaded Ukraine, Facebook and Twitter are making it clear that users in that country need to lock down their accounts for fear of being hacked and manipulated.
This may sound scary, but it’s a real possibility in the world that we live in.
The recommendations, from Twitter’s corporate account and Facebook’s director of threat intelligence, ranged from what to do if your account was hacked to preemptively closing an account for safety concerns.
Business Insider
Basically, these social media platforms urged their users to be aware of how they post and interact on the internet.
Secure Your Social Media Accounts
They want to make sure that, especially in conflict zones or other high-risk areas, individual users know how to secure their accounts.
Now, these platforms didn’t exactly mention Russia by name — but we all get the point.
Twitter offered up specific tips, guides, and things to consider on “how to control your account and digital information.”
They may not have mentioned Russia by name, but they DID post the tips in English, Ukrainian, and Russian. You do the math.
They explained how to tell if your account has been hacked. They also posted information on what to do if your account does in fact get hacked.
Now, these tips are pretty good for everyone, but specifically those in the Ukraine at the moment.
They suggested not to tweet your location, as Russia — or whoever — can track it. The Twitter thread also explained how to disable location tracking on your smartphone.
This is something I do anyway. It’s a great tip.
On Thursday, David Agranovich, Facebook’s director of threat intelligence, sent out a Tweet, written entirely in Ukrainian, to let people in Ukraine know that they had added “an additional level of privacy and security” in that region.
Last night we took steps to help people in the region protect themselves online. We have launched a new feature in Ukraine that allows users to close their profile and provides an additional level of privacy and security.
David Agranovich — Twitter translated to English
Not only is there the threat of these accounts being hacked, but the social media platforms are having to be hypervigilant in protecting everyone from misinformation.
[They] found that 56% of all content about Ukraine on Facebook and Twitter over the last two weeks was created by “inauthentic profiles,” like bots or puppet accounts.
Business Insider
So basically, just be careful with your account privacy, and don’t believe everything you read.
