Facebook, Twitter Post Security Tips For Social Media Users In Ukraine

Amid rising conflict between Russia and Ukraine, social networking giant Facebook and Twitter are suggesting users in Ukraine to lock and close their accounts.

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New Delhi: Amid rising conflict between Russia and Ukraine, social networking giant Facebook and Twitter are suggesting users in Ukraine to lock and close their accounts, to prevent Russia from hacking and spreading disinformation via the manipulated social media accounts. Twitter's corporate account and Facebook's director of threat intelligence suggested measures to the users in Ukraine that included what to do if an account was hacked to closing an account amid safety concerns.

"When using Twitter in conflict zones or other high-risk areas, it’s important to be aware of how to control your account and digital information. Every situation is different, so here are some things to consider," Twitter's corporate account recommended.

Twitter Safety also posted a link explaining how to create a strong password, how to require an email and phone number for password reset requests and find out if your account has been compromised. David Agranovich, Meta's (formerly Facebook) director of threat intelligence also tweeted additional measures for Ukrainians to protect their accounts.

Both Twitter and Facebook are often used by political activists and researchers to disseminate information during times of crisis and that is why both the social networking companies listed pertinent points to protect the social media accounts of Ukranians.

Meanwhile, according to a digital advocacy group named NetBlocks, there has been a significant internet disruption in Kharkiv which is located in northeast Ukraine, about 25 miles from the Russian border. According to Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) project at Georgia Tech, partial internet disruption started just before midnight on February 23 and continued into the morning of February 24, said a report published in The Verge.

The internet outage is impacting the Triolan internet service provider that caters to a number of cities and other areas across the country, including Kharkiv.