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Good if Twitter has dropped its bias

By ZHANG ZHOUXIANG | China Daily | Updated: 2022-11-08 07:26

Twitter app logo is seen in this illustration taken, Aug 22, 2022. [Photo/Agencies]

Some Twitter handles posting or tweeting articles from the Chinese mainland were in for a surprise on Sunday. Gone was the warning that used to accompany such posts for more than a year now.

It is not clear if this is the policy of Twitter's new management, but issuing warnings against links just because they originate from a certain country is unfair, discriminatory, and against basic ethics.

As a platform for news feeds from around the world, Twitter is responsible for ensuring their smooth flow. It is common practice for media platform management teams to label certain information as being possibly hazardous, but it should be noted that news from any country is news, and it doesn't become hazardous just because of the country of origin.

By issuing labels asking users to double-check the authenticity of news in links originating from the Chinese mainland, the earlier management was violating its own claimed values and principles. It was essentially imposing its own bias against China upon all users. That was because backing the earlier management team were politicians from the United States who hate China and want to impose their prejudice upon their people.

Whatever the reason behind the warning being recalled, it is a praiseworthy move. The move should be the harbinger of more such moves to undo the earlier discrimination against China. For more than a year, Twitter was labeling influential Twitter handles from China, be they of individuals or agencies, as "Chinese State-affiliated media". Many such account holders said their data flow dropped fiercely after being labeled so, possibly because of technological restrictions imposed by the management team.

Such moves are not only unfair to China, but have also hurt US interests by curbing friendly interaction between Chinese and US residents. The new management should put an end to all such unfair practices.

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