this is dw news from berlin. you can find much more on the website. that's d, w dot com. ah, who's real and who's not on twitter? it used to be as simple as finding a blue check mark right there. there's wither, such as yours truly went through a verification process. proving that we are who we say we are. that iconic blue check turned a twitter profile. it's un authentic, credible calling card. until it didn't overnight, the blue checks disappeared, but twitter owner, ellen must, he says that getting it back is as easy as $8.00 a month to night. the blue check blues at twitter where truth is dominated in dollars. and if you want to pay to play, i'm brink off in berlin. this is the day. ah,

isn't bad with the communication space, because now you no longer know whether you're actually interacting with the person who seems to be on the picture with. i think it's the, the wrong way calling about making, making to, to profitable the pay level of twitter has been extremely high and says, have been some sort of party also coming up in the us, speeding up tank deliveries to ukraine and will begin training ukrainians on abrams tanks, within weeks i'm biased by i think the m one tax best tank in the world are all the tanks that are quite good. leopards, for example being provided as well. there is no silver bullet in this case, but i do think the m one tank one is delivered and it reaches its operational capability that it will be very effective on the battlefield. ah,

which of our viewers watching on p b. s in the united states into all of you around the world welcomed we begin to the day with twitter and those disappearing blue check. last year, soon after he purchased twitter for $44000000.00. ellen musket had fired a majority of workers there, and he told all twitter users at the days of free identity verification were numbered. when now we know that he meant what he said. on friday, the pope beyond say, rinaldo and donald trump, not to mention legions of journalists, they all woke up to discover that they had been stripped of their twitter blue checkmark. and for years the checkmarks were an exclusive badge. that meant twitter had verified the identity of an account. now they represent yet one of several ways ill on must hoops to monetize twitter. you can get your blue check back. in fact, almost anyone can. it will cost you $8.00 a month and there we understand is no required identity check critics, a,

the new system will make it harder to spot impersonators and it will make it easier for dis information to populate the platform when my 1st gift and i, it's once worked at twitter, her name is rwanda dowry. she's a data scientist and social scientists. she's now seo and founder of parity consulting, and she joins me tonight from munich here in germany. it's good to have you on the show tonight. so i have to ask you as someone who thinks, if i can call you a former twitter insider, give me your thoughts on what happened today. the removal of all of these blue check marks from countless profiles. yes, i mean, what we're seeing on twitter right now is a massive parody making fun of the line must or decision making. because he does not know very much about the history of social media. what he neglected to realize is the purpose of giving blue checkmark was to create a platform where you could trust and verify information. he's effectively gotten

rid of any ability to verify who is speaking and whether they're speaking the truth . do you know any one who says they're going to pay the $8.00 a month to get their verification, blue check mark to get it back? i mean, i don't i do not know a single person now. and this is you just stated, was one of you on most was planned for monetizing twitter. talk me through the thinking here though, this $8.00 subscription per month. can it make a big difference in the bottom line? other company where, where he paid $44000000.00 just to buy it. 44000000000. the answer a 1000000000. sorry. sorry. you're right. 1000000000. yes. it's, it's a staggering number. so it's an understandable mistake. frankly, i don't know. i don't think it can. you know, twitter has always been a smaller platform than it's larger competitors like facebook,

for example. so even if every single person on twitter paid $8.00, you would make some decent profit, but we know that that's not the case. and frankly, it's become a badge of shame to have and he blue check mark. so i don't think his plan is really going to pay off. the big problem here is that it's not linked to value. nobody understands what the $8.00 gets you. yeah. what does it get you a blue check mark. i think twitter blue gets you the ability to write longer tweets, which nobody reads anyway long foreign posts don't perform as well as shorter posts and shorter threads. we've had plenty of research that shows that. and, and i guess twitter blues subscribers are going to be for x bumped in the algorithms and we saw that actually in the open source code that the current twitter team has posted. so there is a formula for determining what tweets you see when you open the app. but people who

have subscribed to twitter blue will actually be prioritized multiplied by 4 x. so, so this is really a case, as i said at the beginning of the program where you're being asked to pay to play. isn't that really what the money and the algorithm are? are requiring us to do that is exactly it. and actually the paying even subverts the algorithm, paying literally means that you get to be prioritized. and that, coupled with the fact that nobody wants to pay the money and the only people who are paying our spammers and an individuals that probably most people don't want to read, we're likely going to see, or twitter feeds just become an absolute mass of targeted advertising you know, i'm sure i'm going to get cindy was you were going to say ok, you know, you're talking to this lady. she used to work at twitter. she doesn't know. she's obviously, she's got an x to grind. what,

what would be your response to their i honestly, there are things that i think have been well done. i think the transparency of sharing the code is something that's laudable and something more companies can do. i think if there were something to view as positive in this, then i would be more than happy to say it, but i really don't know or understand what the monetization strategy is, what the purpose is and how it will benefit the platform. and again, this is not just my opinion, the, the entire purpose of verification, of why we even started checkmarks that twitter was to ensure that people understood that. indeed this was a president, president of the united states, or this was a verifiable media source. and that lack of understanding and you know, a pursuit of money has actually subverted the truthfulness of the platform. that's not my opinion. that simply fact. yeah. and there are, i think a lot of people around the world, you know, seeing the twitter blue check blues today. wondering if this isn't just another

nail in the coffin, and we will see you on mosque is known for changing his mind radically. and sometimes a doing it successfully. we will see i'm and should or we appreciate you joining us tonight for beauty. thank you. thank you. well, it's not all do mingling. we hope we wanted to show you some of the more humorous reactions to what happened on twitter today. this is health actor ben stiller reacted when his verification vanished. no blue check. still feel like me. the british comedian ricky surveys had a similar reaction that reads my blue tick has gone. he then writes, i'm not sure if i'm really me or not. and okay, get that magic lasso. wonder woman. linda carter, the actors who played wonder woman's here right there. she tweeted no blue check. k will settle this the old fashioned way.

we're now to what appears to be yet another front in russia's war against ukraine. and it is right here in germany, according to sensitive russian documents obtained by and european intelligence agency. the kremlin is trying to engineer german public opinion and german election results to be sympathetic to russia and hostile to ukraine and its western allies. the documents reportedly reveal how kremlin officials are working to bring together 2 very unlikely bedfellows, germany's far right party, known as the a f deep, and germany's extreme left party known as the lincoln. and the washington post has reviewed this trove of russian documents and conducted interviews with people close to both political parties. the post reports that the documents record meetings between kremlin officials and russian political strategists and that the kremlin

has ordered for the strategist to focus on germany to build anti worse intimate in europe and to dampen support for ukraine. is on to report to the aim of a new political formation according to a document dated back september 9th. would be to win a majority of elections at any level in germany. and to reset the a f d to boost its standing beyond the 13 percent that the party was polling at the time. and one of the report is he wrote today's washington post article is catherine belton. she joins me now from right here in berlin. catherine is good to have you on the program. i just wanna clarify for our viewers, the documents that you and your colleagues have reviewed these documents. they're not connected to this most recent discord, leak of classified documents right? now that can be a separate uh we are, they were obtained by a european intelligence agency and shared with us and they are completely unrelated

to the disco. okay. okay. could so okay, so we're talking about a completely different trope and they do focus on these 2 parties, the lux parties, the linker, and the f d. the alternative for germany, which is the far right party in germany. we reached out to both of those parties today. so far we haven't heard back. i mean have you received any reaction from those partners with this story? armina, we are with stuff for commend us her more than the anti coley dirty. know who color are they both claimed to comment or we were also in touch with started bargain connect, who's the renegade? the lincoln leader who the kremlin is apparently most interested in forging a union with the far right. she did not respond to us and she did say that there are no terms, but she have any official union with a sd. but on the other hand,

now she is openly mulling are forming her own new party, leaving the link her. and it's very widely predicted that are part of her support base would be members of the f t. and you mentioned is abra vanessa as he is arguably the best known member of the left party, the lincoln here in germany, and reading your article and what you and your colleagues have to deuced here. can we say that of any one? she really is the face of russian attempts to engineer german politics and german public opinion in favor of russia. can we say that? oh yeah, i think she's on her way to the coming that certainly i, she has a very high profile right now. she led the anti war protests on february the 25th when she, when she sort of joined us with, with other kind of leading a piece next to try and prove it to lead

a protest against the war. but in that protest, certainly aside that she took who was very clearly pro russian. and she was talking about the links that ukrainian leadership had with the neo nazi movement. or she said we had, she condemned the bloodshed, but never once did she really speak about rushes invasion of ukraine, which is what started the whole thing in the 1st place. and she spoke very emotive, me about you know, how, but a great, the great fear of being a broiled in a great war again. and she was really playing on a german fizz of but dating back to the cold war of sort of being involved in kind of a nuclear stand off. and she's very skilled in how she speaks. and really she's, she's very strongly on, on a pro russian side. there has been a lot of criticism majority since the russian invasion of ukraine began. that

germany was dragging its feet in terms of sending weapons to ukraine. also though that, that the general attitude in german society, particularly among german law made, was one that wanted to give the kremlin the benefit of the doubt that there is this little pro kremlin sentiment circulating here in political berlin. based on what you're seeing in these documents, can we say that that is indeed the case? i think it was based on the documents. i mean, the documents ready basically showed that the kremlin criminal officials gave orders to a group of political strategist working with the criminal to focus on germany as the can base for efforts to we can support and europe for lee crane and to try and stop support for weapons deliveries, i think germany was seen as a weak link, but also the most importantly because of it grow and sending tanks and so and

to crane. and i think, yes, i think the russia has been very much counting on this sort of late and support for russia. you know, there's been decades of, of german politician believing that sort of in a relationship with russia and curse trade relations. and i think this, this is long been existing, but it exists for most of us within these elements of dealing with sort of i can connect to who obviously she began her career as a communist just as ever since a kind of taking a rush in mine and also within the far right party, the a f t, and we know it's members travel frequently to russia and according to the document trade. very often these trips are all expenses paid by the criminal and captured. we have heard it from many analyst, also from the pentagon, for example,

that the strategy that the policy, the thinking of vladimir putin is the long look. just wait it out, the west will tire of this more, then their unity will begin to fall apart. but you're reporting what you are seeing and suggesting here is that that's not true, that the kremlin is not passively waiting for, but from unity to fall apart, that it is actively meddling and trying to re engineer the. ready way it is perceived. well, you know, i think the kremlin here, this is a very important element. in fact, in it's in, it's more, it's not just a war going on among the armies on the military front. there's not just a military battle, but it's also a battle for hearts and minds, and this is a hidden front in the war and with the kremlin is reverting to tactics at 1st, deployed in her age in soviet times the k g b, also use the priest movement and mine support for nato to undermine support for

the west. and the lead then, also with protest in germany against the placing of the pershing missiles in west germany and some of the people involved in the protest. no. serv, i can connect to the same. i just, we saw then and so, you know, put it again as a k g b officer in dresden. he knows these tactics very well. we can certainly see these documents are deploying the same tactics now because i think, you know, of course, and believes that time is on his side. but he also has an opportunity because they have long standing relationships with politicians in germany and elsewhere that they can leverage by an undermined support for that. and it's certainly the case. so germany, last year of weather, the storm, they were able to diversify energy supplies in time. that wasn't cold and freezing

winter. russia dictate, but now they're seeking to leverage this content over rising prices. i mean, last year germany had russia cheap russian gas and it's storage facilities right up till the some of this year it's having to pay more expensive prices for alternative supplies in german businesses because increasingly disgruntled and kimberly just will play w. you can hear of someone reading this could say, you know, what's the big deal here. u. s. intelligence has told us that russia meddled in the 2016 of 2020 u. s. presidential elections. so reading that it's meddling and german politics may not be shocking, but is the real shocker here. the fact that the kremlin house started the policy that directly tries to directly influence the men and women in parliament to have real political power. isn't that what is so, so shocking about this story. yeah,

i think it is. we know that the kremlin a medals in trist. i'm in politics across the west, but i think we've never seen it. so clearly we trade before. i mean, the documents clearly show how these political stretches were cold into the credit given in order to focus on germany and r o b o bar, right. and also it's job slow bins and time tables for protest against the government . last year you can really see their hands very actively and miss. and i guess for the kremlin it's, it's really crucial that they are sure at their support politically in europe, or just because, you know, i mean, it's crucial for them that are western support for ukraine does way they want to see or the west weapons supplies of full us can because otherwise,

russia will have less chance to hold on to the territory. catherine milton with washington post, katherine, we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and i'm to talk about your reporting. thank you. thank you so much. thanks for having nan. ah, you craze. what's realize met today here? germany to talk weapons, repairs, and training. you a secretary of defense, lloyd austin, and general mark milly say that you crates, allies remain committed to sending weapons for the long haul. our collective efforts have made a huge difference on the battlefield. and now in just a few short months, the contact group has delivered more than 230 tanks. more than 1550 armored vehicles and other equipment and munitions to support more than 9 new armored brigades. we've also expedited our in one abrams timelines

to supply ukraine with more armored capability in the coming months. and the m ones that the ukrainians will use for training arrive here in germany in the next few weeks. and all of this is huge progress. so how will today's announcements impact the battlefield? i asked raphael loss from the european council on foreign relations. i think the main message office 11 meeting off to ukraine defense contract was that off the and i saying to ukraine, we're with you for as long as we at takes and we really mean it as we've seen it, i have no commitments that alice and partners of, of ukraine have made in the past couple of weeks. but now we focus on sustainment and increasing the supply of ammunition use repair parts on ahead of ukraine's expected offensive. and a panel effort to expand ukraine's air defense capabilities. the ukraine is pushing,

it's our lives, particularly the united states to supply fighter jets as well as air defense systems. what makes both of these so crucial and do they have to come in tandem? you are a secretary of defense light, austin remarked on the sidelines of the ramstein foreman meeting, that the primary focus is to strengthen ukraine's ground based air defense. and i think he's right in that and, and i need to supply more ammunition and more systems to ukraine to help it make up for the loss of soviet produce systems that ukraine has been using. and where munition is running, you know. but the question about western pros fighting jets certainly is one that i should tackle early on. the supply timeline for these very complex system will be many months maybe even yes, that will include training of ukrainian pilots. want to setting up of supply chains, supply lines for ammunition and spare parts for these aircraft. it's

a very complex undertaking, but i think if the decision is taken early, then we can see them have an effect um, further down the road. it roughly, what do you make of the german defense minister today announcing that there has been an, an agreement with poland to shut up a repair hub there for tanks. i think it's a really big step for what for ukraine, but also for german polish relations, which has not been good in recent years. and it makes me happy as an analyst and as a european, to see that those 2 governments can now collaborate more effectively when it comes to supporting ukraine in his defense of struggle. and hopefully this effort will expand further to include other systems that now focus on the leper 2 tanks to pull pull in, and germany have taken a leadership role and supplies to ukraine. but i think there's certainly a potential to expand that effort, even cloth. and you know, if you look at the calendar it's, it's almost late. april a has ukraine, assembled enough military equipment to launch that counter offensive against

russian forces. most people we were expecting it to happen now this spring i think they do have all the pieces in place and knowledge about sin cries and best day received a lot of military capability from that partners in the west that includes tanks, that of infantry fighting vehicles but it also includes pioneer engineering equipment, combat engineers are important to clear minds to clear obstacles, everything, and that ukrainians will need to break through the russian defensive lines which have only gotten stronger over the past couple of months. because of course, everybody's expecting that you credit and offensive to liberate additional territory. this will not be a walk in the park for the inconvenience. but i think with everything that western allies together with your credit, i've done these last couple of months. there's a good chance to make some progress on that front end roughly before we run out of time, let me ask you to still allows hawk belt ukraine one day joining nato. how useful is that? that rhetoric at this point?

i think it's certainly an important question, how to guarantee ukraine's sol route he m if and when that war events ends. hopefully, sooner rather than later, you can start to break nato secretary general, just visit the key of yesterday. invite whatever is identical to join nato. eat us when they meet and then yes, later this year, in july, for the annual summit, i think a strong message from major ice towards ukraine that day take ukraine's efficient seriously. and that they present ukraine with a prospect of eventually becoming a nato. and i, even if it is, i'm taking some some some more time for your loss with the european council on foreign relations. raphael is always we appreciate your time in your analysis. thank you. thanks for having me. for the day's almost done the conversation that continues online, you'll find us on twitter or you can follow me on twitter, i think still at red. gov. tv and remember what ever happens between now and then.

tomorrow is another day, have a good weekend. everybody with a e co, india, they call themselves healing him anadia and they're growing in numbers. the environmentalists so cleaning out the rubbish left behind by millions of tourists in the mountains,

is one of the downsides of the tourism and poses a threat to the livelihoods of many people in the region. next on d, w, making the headlines and what's behind them. dw news africa, the show that was the issues in the continent. life is slowly getting back to normal year on the streets to give you enough reports on the inside. our correspondence is on the ground reporting from across the continent and all the trend stuff, the mazda to you in 60 minutes. on d. w. o. ah, the trio taking on nigerian trafficking networks a lot to finish with that when it comes to trafficking nigerian women feel sick. so

they're always saying the same thing about it. you get to go without having to pay it. obviously that's all in line m n a forms. yes. and then we succeed in restoring this young girls ability to treat it. it's something that really is price and that amount that gives me not to what i do. the trio, combating, shooting dealings starts april 29th on d, w. ah thing well not surprising at all. everyone in my city is used to listening. there are heaps.