President Donald Trump received some good news on Friday, when Twitter said it won’t block or remove tweets from “elected” world leaders. Even though Twitter never actually mentioned Trump by name, the company released a statement Friday that seemed to be a direct response to the increasing calls for the social network to block the commander in chief’s account because of tweets that would seem to violate its terms of service.
“Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate,” the company wrote in a blog post. “It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.”
The latest call for Twitter to ban Trump came earlier this month when Trump seemed to threaten nuclear war by showing off about the size of his “Nuclear Button.”
Protesters gathered outside Twitter headquarters this week to project a message onto the building: “jack is #complicit.” In a Facebook post, the group Resistance SF wrote that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was violating “the rules of his own company” and “endanger[ing] the world.”
Although Twitter didn’t actually spell out whose tweets would be protected, the post does refer to “elected” world leaders, suggesting exceptions could be made for dictators. “We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly,” Twitter wrote. “No one person’s account drives Twitter’s growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind.”
