Twitter To Flag Tweets From Politicians That Violate Rules

(RTTNews) - Twitter Inc. (TWTR) Thursday said it would flag and "deprioritize" tweets from officials and politicians that violate its rules, a move that could possible affect US President Donald Trump, who is know for his critical tweets.

According to Twitter, the new rule will apply to verified government officials who have more than 100,000 followers.

Twitter says there are certain cases where it may be in the public's interest to have access to certain Tweets, even if they would otherwise be in violation of the company's rules. Twitter will now place a notice on them that will become "immediately visible in your home timeline and across other areas like search," the company said.

The notice will include a link to more information and say, "The Twitter Rules about abusive behavior apply to this Tweet. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain available."

Twitter also will "take steps to make sure the tweet is not algorithmically elevated on our service, to strike the right balance between enabling free expression, fostering accountability, and reducing the potential harm caused by these tweets," according to a statement from the Twitter safety team.

"In the past, we've allowed certain tweets that violated our rules to remain on Twitter because they were in the public's interest, but it wasn't clear when and how we made those determinations."

"To fix that, we're introducing a new notice that will provide additional clarity in these situations, and sharing more on when and why we'll use it."