Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, drew researchers' attention after marking a link from investigative journalism group Bellingcat about Russia's attack on a children's hospital in Kyiv as "potentially spammy or unsafe." This action sparked criticism because Bellingcat had refuted claims from pro-Russian accounts denying responsibility for the attack and attempting to blame Ukraine, as reported by The Record.
Bellingcat, an organization from the Netherlands known for using open-source intelligence and crowdsourcing, previously revealed details of events such as the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 and the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. However, platform X has not commented on requests to explain why Bellingcat's link was labeled as spam.
Although Bellingcat reported the issue to X, the link to the article remains marked as spam at the time of writing, while similar issues have not arisen on other platforms, researchers emphasized. Elliott Higgins, Bellingcat's founder, expressed dissatisfaction, noting this is the only instance where their material has been flagged.
Higgins also raised concerns about potential censorship and freedom of speech violations, pointing to deliberate actions by platform X. In response, Musk expressed doubts about the fairness of the assessment, accusing Bellingcat of specializing in psychological operations.
X's decision to label Bellingcat's article as "unsafe" is perceived as endorsing Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at altering perceptions of the hospital attack. Russian propagandists also attempted to portray the attack as a legitimate response to Ukrainian military operations.
