Twitter Suspends Popular Anti-Russian Parody Accounts Upsetting Users

The Telegraph

We all love a good parody account. It can be hilarious to find an idea, or some celebrity you dislike, being mocked by a parody account. With the many serious problems and upset with Russia, it's not a surprise that some users have made anti-Putin parody accounts. Where you might think these parody accounts are acceptable, Twitter disagrees and a few of those accounts have been suspended.

These accounts have actually been suspended this week. The most popular account to have been deleted is @DarthPutinKGB which had more than 50,000 followers. Other non-Putin related accounts that were suspended included Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko and Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov. The Lavrov account has since been restored, but the others are still offline. The most interesting of these removals is Darth Putin though. The creator still has yet to reveal themselves, but they have complained about their suspension, in character, on an anonymous blog so users know what is going on. Of course, we still don't know why each of these accounts have been suspended but apparently users need to re-read the parody guidelines.

No matter what Twitter say, though, users are very upset about this. To them, these accounts are a protest against Putin and Russia. A protest that isn't violent and isn't tied to any government. It's a little harmless fun that makes the point that they aren't happy about what's going on. Twitter is a global social network and one that many Russians will be able to see, as well as many other people around the world. Upset users are going as far to say that Twitter is either stupid or are under the Kremlin's power. Twitter will not comment on this but I'm not sure if they would go along with any government forced changes.

Dear @twitter: By suspending @DarthPutinKGB you have shown you're either in Putin's pocket or you have the mental functioning of a child.

— John Schindler (@20committee) May 31, 2016

If you do look at the Twitter parody guidelines, you see that all it says is that if your account is fake, don't use their exact name as your username and follow terms and conditions. These accounts all did that so they surely could have only been removed by impersonation request. This doesn't mean it was an official removal, it could have just been a lot of people complaining that they don't like the fake accounts. We have no way of knowing either way.

I don't think DarthPutinKGB is going to disappear anytime soon, even with their account suspended. They and others will definitely find different ways to carry on with their parodies as comedians always have.

Rosina Brooker

Rosina is a Songbird writer with a degree in Creative Writing. She's trying to focus on her novel on the side but is glad to be playing around with apps and writing about them in the mean time! Follow her @Songbird_Rosina

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