Twitter censorship to be on a country-to-country basis

Social networking and free speech, at least conceptually were synonymous; each one quite meaningless without the other. However, with its growing popularity, regulators have been taking notice of the kind of impact it has on society, both good and bad. Twitter, has now in an official blog post announced that beginning from now it will follow a restrictive policy, as far as censorship on tweets go. Simply put, it'll now follow a censorship policy that'll differ in different countries, in which Twitter has presence. So, if a certain tweet faces objection from the government of a certain country, then Twitter will censor that tweet only for that country and not for the rest, like it did earlier.

Tailormade censorship policy

Previously, it wasn't possible to selectively censor tweets for different countries; if Twitter would have to censor a certain tweet, the tweet would get censored globally, putting it off view for everyone. Twitter is most definitely a fast growing medium, and now it is expanding its presence further in newer countries. Different countries view freedom of speech differently, and also possess ideas so different that they may not accept a social network, different cultures, among others. Hence, being able to selectively censor content will help Twitter to not only respect the varying ideas and culture in different countries, but also will keep free speech alive. If Twitter does end up censoring a tweet, it confirms that it will inform the user about it and will also explain the reason behind it. Elaborating on this, the post states, "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."

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