Twitter: World leaders' accounts not entirely above policies

Twitter says world leaders aren't entirely above its ban on users threatening violence or promoting terrorism on the site.

The San Francisco company is clarifying its rules as some Democrats say they would like to see President Donald Trump booted off Twitter, his favoured platform for filterless communication with the world.

But while Twitter says it will enforce its policies against any user when it comes to material such as child sexual abuse, direct threats of violence against a private individual, or posting someone's private information, it doesn't appear Trump's account is in imminent danger.

A blog post this week expanded on Twitter's policy governing tweets.

In June, Twitter said world leaders' tweets that violate its rules but have a clear public-interest value might get a warning label. The label would provide context on the violation and let people to click through to see the tweet if they want to.

While Twitter said in June that it will not use its algorithms to "elevate" or otherwise promote tweets that have a warning label, it now says it also won't let people retweet or comment on them. People will still be able to "quote tweet" the material.

Quote tweeting lets users add their own message above someone else's tweet and post it on their own timeline.

This nuance shows the fine line Twitter is trying to walk with its policy it wants to promote free expression and allow people to comment on controversial tweets, but it doesn't want to promote them on their own, without context.

With all that, the company has yet to slap a tweet with a warning label since putting its policy into effect. So is it all for show? Below are some questions and answers about Twitter's policy.

On Tuesday, Twitter said it'll take action on any account world leader or not that makes clear and direct threats of violence against a person, depending on the context.

What is this context? A world leader interacting directly with another public figure, or commenting on political and foreign policy issues, would "likely not result in enforcement," Twitter said.

"Foreign policy saber-rattling on economic or military issues are generally not in violation of the Twitter Rules," the blog post reads.

For instance, Trump has threatened Iran on Twitter, prompting his critics to call for his removal from the service. But based on Twitter's policy, that doesn't count as a violation.

But other things, such as promoting terrorism, posting someone's private information such as an address or phone number, promoting self-harm, engaging in child sexual exploitation or sharing intimate photos of someone without their consent could all get a world leader kicked off Twitter.

Twitter wouldn't say what prompted Tuesday's blog post. But there's been growing pressure from Democrats, including presidential candidate and California Sen. Kamala Harris , to remove Trump from Twitter because of what they see as bullying and abuse.

In a public letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Harris listed offending tweets from Trump such as one on Sept. 29 when he wrote that he wants Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff arrested and questioned for "treason."
But, he added, Twitter is essentially arguing "that hate speech can be in the public interest. I am arguing that hate speech is never in the public interest."