“Twitter banned my profile today. Because I posted a video where a Russian soldier castrates a Ukrainian POW,” Ukrainian member of parliament Inna Sovsun wrote after apparently being reinstated. “Twitter decided it was too cruel. But this is what happens. And deleting the video won’t change that,” she said. “People should know what Russia is doing!” she added. The lawmaker posted a screenshot of the message she said she’d received from Twitter, saying the video had violated the company’s policies against posting gore and cruelty. The horrific footage shows camouflaged soldiers, speaking in Russian, kicking a distressed captive in the head as he lies bound by ropes on the floor. With his mouth gagged, the tortured prisoner moans in desperation as the troops rip his pants to expose his backside. As he squirms and moans, they use a box cutter on his genitalia, eventually cutting it off and throwing it on the ground nearby. In a purported second part of the video, not shared by Sovsun but reported by various outlets, the man is then shot dead and his body is shown being dragged by a rope. Twitter did not immediately reply to The Post’s request for confirmation that Sovsun’s account had been disabled. The social media giant has a stated policy to restrict the posting of “gratuitious gore.” Sovsun is a member of Ukraine’s centrist, pro-Europe party, Voice.Future Publishing via Getty Imag “We prohibit gratuitous gore content because research has shown that repeated exposure to violent content online may negatively impact an individual’s wellbeing,” Twitter policy states. However, Twitter says that “very limited exceptions may be made for gory media associated with newsworthy events,” and goes on to state that “graphic violence” can be shared if the post is marked as “sensitive.” Sovsun’s initial tweet did carry a sensitive content warning, preventing the video from automatically playing. Attempts to reach Sovsun in Ukraine were not immediately successful.
