Elon Musk's change in label policy on X, prompts 'dramatic rise in the Kremlin's visibility,' NATO says

• Elon Musk ended Twitter, now X's, policy of labeling and de-amplifying state-affiliated accounts.
• A NATO analysis says the Kremlin has since seen a "dramatic rise" in its visibility as a result.

Elon Musk has prompted a "dramatic rise in the Kremlin's visibility on Twitter," according to an analysis from the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence.

Twitter, which has since rebranded to X, first introduced labels for government officials and state-affiliated media in 2020 — including the likes of Russia's RT and Sputnik, and China's Global Times.

"We will also no longer amplify state-affiliated media accounts or their Tweets through our recommendation systems," the company said in a blog post at the time.

It chose not to label the likes of the BBC and NPR because, while they are financed by the state, they have editorial independence.

But Musk provoked controversy in April by changing tact on this, prompting NPR to quit Twitter, now X.

Then the X owner switched things up again by doing away with the labels entirely. That means many users could now be unaware that they're reading a post from somebody who acts as a mouthpiece for the Russian or Chinese government.

And Musk's platform appears to have stopped its policy of de-amplifying Kremlin-linked accounts, again recommending their posts to users.

NATO's analysis of 11 Russian accounts, which were previously labeled by X, showed an average 60% increase in views since Musk's change in policy.

That includes diplomatic accounts, like the Russian Embassy in the US, which has seen a 133% boost in engagement and a 150% surge in views, according to NATO's report.

@RusEmbUSA's pinned tweet includes a video of a Russian soldier boasting about his eagerness to use "anti-tank 'bullets'" against American tanks being used by Ukraine.

"While Twitter is becoming less relevant for Russians in Russia, it continues to be an effective tool for the Russian state to reach international and particularly non-European audiences," the report said.

Russian media accounts have primarily experienced boosts when targeting international audiences, with Russian state-owned news networks RT Arabic and Actualidad RT seeing 48% and 87% increases in visibility, according to NATO's analysis.

"Twitter once made it significantly harder for Kremlin propaganda to go viral," it added. "Now, this is no longer the case."

X did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.