Twitter to add more labels identifying world leader and government accounts

[snoop1130]

Twitter to add more labels identifying world leader and government accounts

By Elizabeth Culliford

 

FILE PHOTO: People holding mobile phones are silhouetted against a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo in this illustration picture taken September 27, 2013. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration

 

(Reuters) - Twitter Inc said on Thursday it will next week add labels to identify more state-affiliated accounts, including world leaders' personal accounts, to give users more context for geopolitical conversations on the platform.

 

The move comes as Twitter's approach to prominent figures and government is under scrutiny after the high-profile ban of former U.S. President Donald Trump's account and as political firestorms have raged in Myanmar and India.

 

In August, Twitter said it would start labeling the accounts of state-affiliated media outlets such as Russia's Sputnik and China's Xinhua News and of some key government officials for the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

 

Twitter said in a blog post that it was expanding its labels to key government officials and institutions that were "the voice of the nation state abroad" from G7 countries and a majority of countries where Twitter has identified what it deems state-linked information operations.

 

Mock-ups of the labels shared by Twitter said "US Government organization" or "US Government official."

 

Asked how Twitter would determine government labels in situations such as Myanmar where the military recently seized power in a coup, Twitter's global public policy director, Nick Pickles, said the company was not labeling countries where government was in dispute.

 

"We will take into account the international discussion about legitimacy of the government when we are considering if it's appropriate to apply these labels," Pickles said in an interview.

 

The labels will only be added to verified accounts, Pickles said. For example, in Iran that would mean that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would not currently get a label because he is not verified, though the foreign minister would.

 

The new countries where senior officials and institutions will be labeled are: Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

 

Twitter will also label the personal accounts of heads of state from these countries and the U.N. Security Council permanent members, citing the use of these accounts for diplomacy.

 

The company has faced international scrutiny over its approach to world leaders' accounts. In January it banned Trump after the Capitol riot for tweets - sent from his personal @realDonaldTrump account - that it said risked inciting violence.

 

Twitter has generally exempted world leaders' rule-breaking content from removal because it deems their posts in the public interest, instead adding warning notices and reducing the content's reach. Pickles said the way Twitter enforced its rules on accounts would not be based on these labels.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-12

 

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[DaiHard]

I think they'll find themselves banned in more and more countries now they have shown themselves to be politically partisan. Leaders are going to think (correctly) that they'll find themselves banned or labelled if they don't subscribe to Twitter's woke worldview while their opposite would be 'blue checked' as having the 'correct' view. Long term Twitter is screwed.

[welovesundaysatspace]

2 hours ago, DaiHard said:

I think they'll find themselves banned in more and more countries now they have shown themselves to be politically partisan. Leaders are going to think (correctly) that they'll find themselves banned or labelled if they don't subscribe to Twitter's woke worldview while their opposite would be 'blue checked' as having the 'correct' view. Long term Twitter is screwed.

That may be what you hope to happen because Twitter decided to delete some of the abusive contents that you seem to favor and disguise as a “view”. 
 

What’s more likely to happen is that you’ll end up with your “views” on one of those niche garbage networks together with all the shamanes and Karen moms of zombie nation. If those troll sites can get their technology right of course.