Twitter reveals plan to censor tweets by specific countries
Twitter has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis.
The additional flexibility announced on Thursday is likely to raise fears that Twitter's commitment to free speech may be weakening as the short-messaging company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money.
But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or tweets, remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world.
Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweet containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.
Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed. That is similar to what internet search engine Google has been doing for years when a law in a country where its service operates requires a search result to be removed.
Like Google, Twitter also plans to the share the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the chillingeffects.org website.
The similarity to Google's policy is not coincidental. Twitter's general counsel is Alexander Macgillivray, who helped Google draw up its censorship policies while he was working at that company.
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"One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user's voice," Twitter wrote in a blogpost. "We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The tweets must continue to flow."
Twitter users threaten boycott over censorship accusation
One tweeter from a Gulf Arab state, @abatmeem, parodied the Twitter logo by showing a dead blue bird on its back with feet in the air. "Twitter punctured the silence with its beak, and now it has provoked the tyrants to take revenge," @abatmeem tweeted. "Sorry Twitter bird, you are no longer that bird that could sing all tunes. You have become a parrot that repeats only what is required of it."
Other critical tweets showed the blue bird with a red cross or black strip over its beak. Another Arabic tweeter, @alanoud45 demanded: "How much did they pay you, Twitter?" Twitter insists that the system will only formalise a method it already uses, where tweets are blocked or deleted after full judicial process. Being able to limit tweets to particular countries, rather than blocking them altogether, expands its ability to "let tweets flow".
Twitter needs to sit the **** down. I remember hearing interviews where they said they wouldn't pull **** like this. Do they realize how essential they were as a tool for other countries to fight for their rights? Pssh, it's like no one gives a **** about basic human rights anymore. Get with the times people.
Twitter needs to sit the **** down. I remember hearing interviews where they said they wouldn't pull **** like this. Do they realize how essential they were as a tool for other countries to fight for their rights? Pssh, it's like no one gives a **** about basic human rights anymore. Get with the times people.
Lemme go back in hiding. Oh by the way, thanks Fireman for my recognition on your countdown, but DrunkN is NAWT better than me. That lowkey offended me.
Lemme go back in hiding. Oh by the way, thanks Fireman for my recognition on your countdown, but DrunkN is NAWT better than me. That lowkey offended me.
It's not convenient, but your house = your rules. Tweeting is not a "basic" human right. I mean...
I don't understand why people use these ridiculous websites anyways. Not to sound like a conspiracist, but their have been numerous stories of the government logging these tweets. A fried of mine even had her Facebook information used against her in court, and her account was on private. If people want to make their voice heard, they need to do it the old-fashioned way and protest in person. Why this generation is so handicapped and believe that typing threats online is effective is beyond me.
+1
Lemme go back in hiding. Oh by the way, thanks Fireman for my recognition on your countdown, but DrunkN is NAWT better than me. That lowkey offended me.
