Twitter RESTORES account of Sputnik-V, Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, restricted over suspicious log-in

Sputnik-V, the Russian-developed coronavirus vaccine, was back on Twitter after getting locked out of its official account on Thursday. When the official explanation finally came, it cited a suspicious log-in attempt from the US.

The account, @sputnikvaccine, showed up as “temporarily restricted” for a brief period on Thursday afternoon, due to “some unusual activity.”

Users could click on a warning to see the posts, the most recent of which was more than five hours ago.

For Christ's sake, @Twitter, you need to figure out how not to restrict or ban legit Russian accounts. And doing so to the vaccine-related account @sputnikvaccine during the pandemic is harmful

cc @AHerblin @karahinesley @Policy @TwitterGov @ALiceGarza12 @yoyoel @kathleenreen pic.twitter.com/tj0DGPsBsN

— Oleg Shakirov (@shakirov2036) January 14, 2021

“We are looking into the reasons for this,” the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which sponsored the vaccine and runs its marketing efforts, posted on Telegram. 

RDIF noted that they have been “open and transparent on how the vaccine works” and had offered AstraZeneca the use of one of the Sputnik V components and agreed to participate in joint clinical trials. 

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“We ask all our subscribers to write to Twitter asking them to restore our access,” the Fund said.

Shortly after their account was restored, Sputnik V posted a notice they received from Twitter, saying that there had been an unauthorized attempt to access it from an iPhone in Virginia. It is the US state adjacent to Washington, DC and the home of the CIA and the Pentagon.

Twitter restored access to @sputnikvaccine account and explained that they restricted the account due to a possible security breach from Virginia, USA.
Thank you, @Twitter!

Please follow us to see how #SputnikV fights #COVIDー19 , saves lives and restores economies. pic.twitter.com/tsnOGgKNnz

— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) January 14, 2021

None of the posts on the Sputnik V account were tagged for “misinformation” or dispute about Covid-19, one of the many grounds Silicon Valley social media platforms have used to censor posts and delete accounts over the past year. 

While the restriction is not the same as a ban – or “permanent suspension” in Twitter parlance – the development is disturbing.

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The New York Post’s account was similarly restricted in the run-up to the 2020 US presidential election, for sharing an article about Hunter Biden’s laptop that was denounced as “Russian disinformation” but later confirmed to be authentic.

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