People tweet for many reasons. For some it is truly a social tool while many business owners tweet to communicate with their customers. This week Twitter announced it would withhold content from users in a specific country if that tweet violates law or if they have “different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression.” The example Twitter officials gave on their blog is a law that prohibits pro-Nazi sentiments in countries such as France and Germany.
One of the most interesting points Twitter made in their blog is that they have been restricting tweets all along. The difference now is they can choose the countries that need to have the tweets banned but the rest of the world can see the information. “We haven’t yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld” the post further explains.
The announcement has had many Internet pundits calling the move censorship. But Google has been restricting content in a similar fashion and the person largely responsible for creating the new policy created a similar policy while working for Google. But in the blog’s closing officials say they support the open flow of ideas.
“One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user’s voice,” the blog stated. “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 officials also announced an expanded partnership with www.chillingeffects.org, which monitors content that is removed. A quick look at the page currently shows content has been removed mostly due to copyright infringements. It will be interested to see what posts are listed on that page in the coming weeks.
