In situations of conflict, social movements or crackdowns, "Twitter I think has become the central platform for being able to disseminate the truth and the ground reality," Charles Lister, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told AFP.
Like most other social networks, Twitter is also used to spread propaganda and misinformation, and the company has developed moderation tools to try to limit the worst of it.
But their ability to keep up with the demands of such a task has been thrown into question after more than two-thirds of those teams have left since Elon Musk's controversial takeover.
A 2018 study found that false information circulates faster than posts that have been fact-checked.
"That's an unrealistic expectation to imagine a platform where misinformation and disinformation is impossible," Lister cautioned.
But "to see information, good and bad, vanish," with the potential disappearance of Twitter, "is by definition a bad thing," Lister said.
"Facebook is valuable, but I think it's almost a bit old fashioned," Lister said.
Could a replacement emerge? "Of course," Lister added, but he noted such ingenuity takes enormous resources and significant time.
"You can't just do it overnight."