Twitter has reinstated a Russian account that parodies Vladimir Putin after taking it down earlier in the week along with a handful of other spoof sites linked to Russia’s political figures. The move highlights the opaqueness of Twitter’s process of banning accounts.
The account @DarthPutinKGB announced its return, tweeting:
Now that i'm outta the gulag, I'm off to celebrate. Watch out ladeez. pic.twitter.com/FryI6fWnwH
— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) June 1, 2016
Decided to hold a parade to celebrate Twitter reinstating this account. pic.twitter.com/Ia3eeIcBGF
— Soviet Embassy, UK (@RusEmbassyNot) June 2, 2016
The most popular out of the five accounts that were suspended was @DarthPutinKGB, which has been active since November 2012 and as of now has about 66.8K followers. This account primarily makes satirical jokes and references to bad leadership in Russia by tweeting fake Putin quotes about domestic and foreign politics.
The reason i'm threatening Poland & Romania about this @NATO missile shield is it's clearly aimed at Russia pic.twitter.com/ir3VaObMYJ
— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) May 28, 2016
Many assumed that Russian authorities were responsible for requesting these accounts be taken down, given Russia’s strict laws on anti-Kremlin comments posted on the Internet. “@mfa_russia had me suspended as they sound more like a parody than I do,” @DarthPutinKGB announced in his bio, referring to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when his account was restored. However, the ministry tweeted that they made no such requests, though that tweet has since been taken down. Twitter did not issue any official explanation.
The Greeks make me feel at home by placing me on the throne of the Byzantine Emporers…. pic.twitter.com/CcLI1S0CVC
— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) May 28, 2016
After Twitter suspended the account on Tuesday, #NoTwitterGulagForDarthPutinKGB started trending online, with users calling for an explanation from Twitter. Followers of the suspended account questioned Twitter’s decision and reposted their favorite tweets of the page.
Dear @twitter, why in the world have you suspended one of the funniest parody acc'ts around @DarthPutinKGB? It's a joke account, not a troll
— toomas hendrik ilves (@IlvesToomas) May 31, 2016
Dear @Support, @DarthPutinKGB is a *parody* account. The fact that it remains suspended is plain stupid and bizarre.
— Natalia Antonova (@NataliaAntonova) June 1, 2016
.@DarthPutinKGB may have been deleted, but this tweet deserves to live on #NoGulagForDarthPutinKGB pic.twitter.com/TnRExHfVkm
— Grace Cuddihy (@GraceCuddihy) June 1, 2016
Remembering @DarthPutinKGB 's greatest hits: "Russia has cut defense spending. Attack spending remains unchanged"
— Brian Whitmore (@PowerVertical) May 31, 2016
Everyone, join #NoGulagForDarthPutinKGB Need to save him, who brings attention to #Kremlin regime through #humor and satire #TwitterStorm.
— Tetyana S. (@TetyanaStadnyk) May 31, 2016
The accounts appear to have followed Twitter’s main requirement for parody accounts, which is that the word “parody” appears in the description. Twitter also suggests that the parody accounts should include the word “not” in the name—for example, a parody account for Justin Bieber would be @NotJustinBieber. The Russian accounts didn’t follow that criteria, but then again neither did this parody account for German leader Angela Merkel, which was not suspended.
Text from Vladimir. Sounds like he's been on the meldonium again.
— Angela Merkel (@Queen_Europe) May 14, 2016
The other Russian accounts that were suspended were @SovietSergey, a parody of Russian foreign secretary Sergey Lavrov; @AmbYakovenkoNot, for the Russian Ambassador to London Alexander Yakovenko; @RusEmbassyNot, about the Russian Embassy in London; and @Russia__Not, which makes fun of all things Russian.
