Twitter To Restrict Interaction With World Leaders Who Post Offensive Tweets: No Liking, Sharing Such Tweets

TechCrunch reports:

Twitter said it will restrict how users can interact with tweets from world leaders who break its rules. The social media giant said it will not allow users to like, reply, share or retweet the offending tweets, but instead will let users quote-tweet to allow ordinary users to express their opinions.

The company said the move will help its users stay informed about global affairs, but while balancing the need to keep the site’s rules in check.

Twitter has been in a bind, amid allegations that the company has not taken action against world leaders who break its rules. “When it comes to the actions of world leaders on Twitter, we recognize that this is largely new ground and unprecedented,” Twitter said in an unbylined blog post.

After ⁦@KamalaHarris calls out Twitter, in a blog post Twitter says,⁩ “the accounts of world leaders are not above our policies entirely,” adding that part of its mission is to allow people to “engage their leaders directly.” https://t.co/mrLdSEum4f

— Kyung Lah (@KyungLahCNN) October 16, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: Twitter users will be blocked from liking, retweeting or sharing tweets written by world leaders if the posts violate rules – amid pressure to censor Trump. Twitter said it would apply a label to offensive tweet and stop it spreading.

— Dave Vescio (@DaveVescio) October 16, 2019

telling that in the last year Twitter has gone from ‘Trump doesn’t violate our rules’ to, ‘we’ve created a whole separate category for world leaders who clearly violate our rules’ https://t.co/xx6oRYQgCt

— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) October 16, 2019

Twitter says it reserves the right to take ‘enforcement action’ on offending tweets, including those with threats of violence or the posting of private information. https://t.co/0s7CHVy9mc

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) October 16, 2019