Twitter is re-evaluating its rules for politicians

Twitter has not only become the place you turn to when you need to commiserate how miserable existence is with like-minded folks (unlike those perpetually happy Instagrammers), it’s also one of the primary locations people source their news and public announcements from. Given the massive install base, it makes sense that public figures and politicians would head to Twitter before anyone else given the immediacy of sending a tweet. Yet Twitter has also been more than a little… relaxed with its terms and conditions, especially when it came to politicians.

That seems to be changing as Twitter has confirmed that it’s “reviewing” its rules surrounding public officials and world leaders. A public survey will be launched on today, 19 March, that is meant to gather feedback from users on the subject. Basically, they want to know if folks would be annoyed if world leaders are held to the same standards as everyone else on the platform; it’s difficult to imagine anyone not wanting that.

Twitter should hold everyone accountable

Twitter announced the survey, which will run until 12 April, last night with a blog post that stated, “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.”

We obviously all want our politicians held accountable for their actions. They shouldn’t be above the rules no matter who they are, but it’s also a reality that Twitter may be shutting down a potentially important information source that may be essential to many civilians. There are always other streams to source information but those make The Blue Bird less money, you see.

“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,” continues the blog post.

Source: Engadget