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Twitter to add more labels for world leaders and government accounts

Twitter labels world leaders government accounts

Twitter will expand labels to accounts from Group of Seven (G7) countries and to a majority of countries that Twitter has attributed state-linked information operations to. Twitter will also apply labels to the personal accounts of leaders for these countries.

In August, Twitter expanded account labels to the accounts of key government officials and accounts belonging to state-affiliated media entities in the United States, France, United Kingdom, Russian Federation, and China.

The labels identified accounts of government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders. This is in an attempt to identify senior officials who are “the official voice” of the state in terms of foreign policy.

According to the full phased plan, Phase 2 countries include Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Twitter will add labels to the verified accounts of key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders.

The focus is on senior officials and entities who are the official voice of the state abroad. Personal accounts of heads of state, from phase 1 and phase 2 countries are also added to the category.

Twitter has come under scrutiny for removing Trump from the platform indefinitely. Twitter claimed that his consistent use of his account risked incitement of violence.

The company said that they believe this approach is “the most thoughtful and judicious” way and respects their existing forums for international dialogue and cooperation. Twitter believes this is an important step so that when people see an account discussing geopolitical issues from another country, they have context on its national affiliation. And they are better informed about who they represent.

Twitter notifies accounts when they receive a label. And account owners can communicate with Twitter directly if they have feedback.

 

 

 

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Saman Iqbal

Saman is a law student. She enjoys writing about tech, politics and the world in general. She's an avid reader and writes fictional prose in her free time.







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