Twitter says world leaders are not above its rules on offensive tweets

Popular social media app Twitter says world leaders are not above its rules.

In a blog post, the app said it would restrict how users can interact with tweets from world leaders who break the rules, including not allowing users to like, reply, share or retweet the offending tweets, but instead quote-tweet to allow users to express their opinions.

According to Twitter, the move was prompted by endless public complaints about how it deals with offensive tweets from world leaders.

“When it comes to the actions of world leaders on Twitter, we recognise that this is largely new ground and unprecedented. We understand the desire for our decisions to be “yes/no” binaries, but it’s not that simple.

“The actions we take and policies we develop will set precedent around online speech and we owe it to the people we serve to be deliberate and considered in what we do,” said Twitter.

In June, Twitter said it would be adding warning labels for offensive political tweets. The labels were to flag and suppress political tweets that breach the platform's rules on acceptable speech.

Many saw this as a positive step for the company, as it came under renewed criticism for its handling of tweets by major political figures such as US president Donald Trump and former DA leader Helen Zille.

“We want to make it clear today that the accounts of world leaders are not above our policies entirely,” the company said.

Any users whose tweet content promotes terrorism, makes clear and direct threats of violence, shares private information, intimate photos, engages in behaviours relating to child sexual exploitation or self-harm are all subject to a ban.

“Our goal is to enforce our rules judiciously and impartially,” said Twitter.

“In doing so, we aim to provide direct insight into our enforcement decision-making, to serve public conversation, and protect the public’s right to hear from their leaders and to hold them to account.”