Twitter issued advice on using its service in conflict zones or high-risk areas after Russian forces attacked targets across Ukraine on Thursday.

The tweet thread, articulating best practices for security in English and Ukrainian, included a suggestion to deactivate accounts if that proved to be the safest approach. The company urged users to employ two-factor authentication, strong passwords and email and phone number confirmations for actions such as password resets. It advised users to be careful about disclosing personal information, and to disable tweet location data.

Misinformation campaigns

Twitter and fellow social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, have been criticised for being slow to respond to political tumult and state-sponsored misinformation campaigns in the past. In 2020, the company removed tens of thousands of accounts engaged in propaganda that were linked to Russia, China and Turkey.