Twitter asks public: 'Should world leaders be subject to same rules as others?'

Global microblogging service Twitter, on March 18 said that it will soon release a public poll asking users when and how it should ban world leaders. In a blog post, the social media giant explained that politicians were constantly evolving in the way they used Twitter. And thus, to keep up with the “ever-changing nature of political discourse”, it was now seeking to review its policies aided by public opinion. 

“Generally, we want to hear from the public on whether or not they believe world leaders should be subject to the same rules as others on Twitter. And, should a world leader violate a rule, what type of enforcement action is appropriate,” Twitter said elaborating further.

Public Survey

Twitter’s public survey will be released on March 19 and users would have almost a month, till April 12, to submit their responses. The questionnaire would be available in as many as 14 languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Urdu so as to ensure a global perspective. Apart from the public survey, Twitter is also seeking the opinion from a  range of human rights experts, civil society organizations, and academicians on the matter. 

"We want to serve the public conversation and allow the public to hear from and engage with leaders around the world. Ultimately, our aim is to have a policy that appropriately balances fundamental human rights and considers the global context in which we operate," it said. 

The Jack Dorsey-led organization has come under global scrutiny in recent months. Twitter Inc. especially caught eyeballs after it barred former American President Donald Trump earlier this year. On January 8, it permanently suspended Trump’s account over repeated violations of its rules, including incitement of violence. The company said that after assessing the tweets in the context of a violent storming of the Capitol on Wednesday, it determined that Trump’s tweets violated the firm’s ‘Glorification of Violence’ policy and constituted immediate removal from the platform. 

After review of Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence”. 

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