SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 12 — Twitter is taking steps to provide more context on the platform. In fact, the social network plans to more clearly signal the personal accounts of government figures such as heads of state. The measures were launched in several countries in August 2020 and will be expanded to 16 new countries from February 17. Accounts held by state-affiliated institutions and government officials like diplomats and ambassadors will also be flagged.
In less than a week’s time, Twitter will start adding a label to the personal accounts of heads of state, government officials or state-affiliated media, the social network announced in a blog post. Media entities that have received state funding while maintaining editorial independence will not be covered by the new measures.
The system has been operational in countries including France, China, Russia, the UK and the USA since August 2020. From February 17, it will roll out to Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, Twitter explains. The platform intends to expand the measures to other, additional countries over time.
“We believe that safety and free expression go hand-in-hand, especially when interacting with these leaders and associated institutions, and adding context to what people see on Twitter helps them have a more informed experience on Twitter,” the social network’s blog post reads.
Twitter hopes to provide more context and useful elements to help its users to better situate and understand the posts of some political figures, and their links to the governments of different countries. Foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople and key diplomatic leaders are set to be warned by Twitter that a label is being added to their account. — ETX Studio
