TWITTER is to slap warning labels on politicians’ posts it deems offensive in a bid to limit the number of people who see them.
Tweets that break the site’s rules but have been left online “in the public interest” will be hidden behind a message explaining the violation.
Presidents and prominent government officials who use the platform to threaten or abuse others will be targeted in the crackdown announced yesterday.
The new move comes after Donald Trump accused the social media giant’s leaders of censoring him.
Twitter critics say the site does not enforce its rules evenly, allowing politicians to break its rules on harassment, incitement and abuse.
Previously, Twitter has defended decisions, saying that questionable tweets were newsworthy.
One such tweet was posted by Trump in September 2017.
He wrote: “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at UN. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!”
Many people said this was a threat to North Korea. Twitter deemed it newsworthy.
Twitter said the new rules will apply to tweets posted since June 27.
Users will have to tap through the warning to see the underlying message, but the tweet won’t be removed, as Twitter might do with a regular person’s posts.
Twitter said the policy applies to all government officials, candidates and similar public figures with more than 100,000 followers.
In addition to applying the label, Twitter won’t use its algorithms to “elevate” or otherwise promote such tweets.
Keegan Hankes, research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, who focuses on far-right extremist propaganda online, said the move was a “step in the right direction”, but added: “Twitter is essentially arguing “that hate speech can be in the public interest. I am arguing that hate speech is never in the public interest.”
Twitter refused to comment on whether any of Trump’s past tweets violated its rules and would not say what role, if any, his Twitter activity played in the creation of the new warning-label policy.
In a Fox Business Network interview on Wednesday, host Maria Bartiromo asked the US president if he was concerned that Silicon Valley titans were “censoring conservatives” in advance of the 2020 election.
Trump replied: “Twitter is just terrible what they do. They don’t let you get the word [out]. I’ve had so many people come to me: ‘Sir, I can’t join you on Twitter?’ I see what’s happening, 100 per cent.
“These people are all Democrats. It’s totally biased toward Democrats.”
Twitter’s rules prohibit threatening violence against a person or group, engaging in “targeted harassment of someone,” or inciting others to do so, such as wishing a person is harmed.
It also bans hate speech against a group based on race, ethnicity, gender or other categories.
Up to now, the company has exempted prominent leaders from many of those rules, contending that publishing controversial tweets from politicians helps hold them accountable and encourages discussion.
But there have been longstanding calls to remove Trump from the service over what some have called abusive and threatening behaviour.
Some activists complained this week after the president threatened Iran with “obliteration” in some areas if it attacks the US.
Trump has also tweeted a video of himself beating up a man with a CNN logo in place of his head and retweeted seemingly faked anti-Muslim videos.
Twitter said warning-label decisions will be made by a group that includes members of its trust and safety, legal and public policy teams, as well as employees in the regions where particular tweets originate.
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