Twitter can censor messages based on country
Source: Agencies |
January 28, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWITTER has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis.
The flexibility announced on Thursday is likely to raise fears that Twitter's commitment to free speech may be weakening as the microblog company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money.
But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or "tweets," remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world.
Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweet containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.
Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed. That's similar to what Internet search leader Google Inc has been doing for years when a law in a country where its service operates requires a search result to be removed.
Twitter also plans to share the removal requests it receives at the chillingeffects.org website.
The flexibility announced on Thursday is likely to raise fears that Twitter's commitment to free speech may be weakening as the microblog company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money.
But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or "tweets," remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world.
Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweet containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.
Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed. That's similar to what Internet search leader Google Inc has been doing for years when a law in a country where its service operates requires a search result to be removed.
Twitter also plans to share the removal requests it receives at the chillingeffects.org website.
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