Tech giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter are clamping down on news agencies affiliated with the Kremlin. Now, one of the world’s largest photo archives is joining them.
This time, however, it has little to do with punishment for Russia’s war in Ukraine and more to do with spreading misinformation about it. Getty Images is ending its partnership with Russian News Agency TASS for what it said was violating editorial policy.
“We have been monitoring Russian state news agency TASS closely since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” a Getty Images spokesperson told Forbes via email, adding that the company will remove all TASS content after the agreement is officially ended. “In order to ensure the integrity of the content we distribute, we require that partners and contributors comply.”
The decision comes as TASS and other Russian news agencies come under scrutiny from tech giants and government officials for spreading misinformation about the war. Although not all TASS photos are related to Ukraine or include misinformation, the agency has reportedly published various false claims over the past several years. Last week, a story published by TASS quoted a Russian lawmaker wrongly reporting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky had fled the country despite photos and images elsewhere showing he hadn’t. Meanwhile, NewsGuard, a U.S.-based startup that monitors and rates the credibility of websites, gives TASS a score of 20 out of 100 and cautions anyone publishing TASS...
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