Twitter sparks free speech fury by announcing it will censor messages country-by-country

• Twitter to start blocking 'offensive' messages
• Tweet breaking law in one country can be taken down there
• It will still be seen elsewhere
• Radical change from firm's 2011 stance that 'the tweets must flow'
• Part of aggressive expansion to boost users from 100million to 1billion

By Lee Moran

Last updated at 12:19 PM on 27th January 2012

It was credited with fanning the flames of unrest across the Arab world as citizens took to the streets in protest and decades-old regimes fell.

It helped co-ordinate the Occupy movement that swept across the globe, and was blamed for playing a key part in last year's devastating riots in London.

But Twitter's role as the modern bastion of free speech is now at risk as the firm moves forward with an aggressive expansion strategy to grow from 100 million to 1 billion regular users.

Today the firm revealed it planned to censor messages on a country-by-country basis. Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world.

Changes: Twitter's role as the modern bastion of free speech is now at risk as the fledgling firm moves forward with an aggressive expansion strategy

Uprising: Twitter was credited with the change of regime in Egypt last year, where the site was used to co-ordinate protests

Now, a tweet containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.

So people outside the country will be able to view what is being tweeted. But, crucially, groups within the state will not be able to co-ordinate protests, as they did in the Arab Spring.

The plans have sparked fears Twitter will jump into bed with tyrannical governments to 'work with' on blocking 'offensive' messages in that country.

And they are a radical change for Twitter who, only 12 months ago, underscored its commitment to freedom of speech in a blog post.

Burning down: Twitter was also blamed, in part, for the co-ordination of the London 2011 riots. But, it was also used to track down several looters, who posted pictures of their ill-gotten gains online

Under the headline The Tweets Must Flow, it said in January 2011 that, while it did not always agree with the things people choose to tweet, 'we must keep the information flowing irrespective of any view we may have about the content'.

The move is critical, said the San Francisco company, to broadening its audience by expanding into other countries and to ultimately making more money.

WHY IS TWITTER CENSORING ON A COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY BASIS?

Twitter explained its policy change on its blog by saying:


'As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression.


'Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.


'Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally.


'Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country - while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.


'We haven’t yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld.'


'As part of that transparency, we’ve expanded our partnership with Chilling Effects to share this new page, http://chillingeffects.org/twitter, which makes it easier to find notices related to Twitter.'

But it has sparked outrage across the world, with Twitter users themselves taking to the site to vent their anger. Many have signed an open letter demanding its cancellation.

But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual tweets remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world.

The blocking tool is designed to comply with local laws, such as bans on pro-Nazi content in Germany, it said.

Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed. Any user, it is believed, will be able to report an offensive message. This obviously includes governments and big businesses.

It is a similar tactic to what search engine Google has been doing for several years when a law in a country where its service operates requires a search result to be removed.

Like Google, Twitter also plans to the share the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the chillingeffects.org website.

The similarity to Google's policy is not coincidental. Twitter's general counsel is Alexander Macgillivray, who helped Google draw up its censorship policies while he was working at that company.

'One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user's voice,' Twitter wrote in a blog post yesterday.

'We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The tweets must continue to flow.'

Twitter is tweaking its approach now that its nearly six-year-old service has established itself as one of the world's most powerful megaphones.

Blocked: Twitter said the new tool is designed to comply with local laws, such as bans on pro-Nazi content in Germany

Daisy chains of tweets already have played instrumental roles in political protests throughout the world, most notably in the uprising that overthrew Egypt's government a year ago.

TWITTER AND FACEBOOK WILL BE 'EXEMPT' FROM NEW RULES

Gossip spread on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter would be exempt from any new regulations of the media, Lord Justice Leveson suggested yesterday.
The chairman of the inquiry into press standards had earlier said his recommendations would not just cover print but also news and entertainment websites.


He said concerns had been raised about showbusiness websites, which served to 'underline why the rules have to cover everybody' but suggested exceptions.


He said: 'I might see a distinction between Facebook where one person is communicating with friends or Twitter, and organisations in the business of selling themselves by reference to news or information.


'That's the difference between the pub chatter, and that which the state has an interest in seeing is conducted on a level playing field.'

It is a role that Twitter has embraced, but the company came up with the new filtering technology in recognition that it will likely be forced to censor more tweets as it pursues an ambitious agenda.

Reaching the goal of one billion users will require expanding into more countries.

It will mean Twitter will be more likely to have to submit to laws that run counter to the free-expression protections guaranteed under the First Amendment in the U.S.

If Twitter defies a law in a country where it has employees, those people could be arrested.

That is one reason Twitter is unlikely to try to enter China, where its service is currently blocked.

Google for several years agreed to censor its search results in China to gain better access to the country's vast population.

But it stopped that practice two years after engaging in a high-profile showdown with Chain's government.

Google now routes its Chinese search results through Hong Kong, where the censorship rules are less restrictive.

In a blog post yesterday Twitter said it had not yet used its ability to wipe out tweets in an individual country. All the tweets it has previously censored were wiped out throughout the world. Most of those included links to child pornography.

Twitter to Censor Tweets Country-by-Country

Twitter's logo. Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images

ABC News’ Kevin Dolak and Ned Potter Report:

Twitter has announced a new plan that will allow it to censor users’ tweets on a country-by-country basis if governments object to them. It says the policy is an attempt to keep doing business in countries, such as China, that do not welcome all expression.

On the company’s blog  Twitter said it will now withhold offending content within the specific country that censors the language, while leaving it unaltered  for the rest of the world. It will also post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed.

“Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world,” the company said.

“If and when we are required to withhold a tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld,” said the company. “One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user’s voice. We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can’t.”

A censored post, the company said, would be labeled “Tweet withheld. This Tweet from @Username has been withheld in: Country.” There would be a link to an explanation of the policy.

Twitter and other Internet companies are trying to strike a difficult balance. The Internet is by nature global — and companies want to reach as many countries as they can — but they cannot go around local laws.

“Twitter has been very thoughtful in trying to operate in a way that allows them to operate despite these limits,” said Cynthia Wong, director of the Global Internet Freedom Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology in Washington. “At least they’re trying to limit the harm to free expression.”

Having grown to 100 million users in six years, Twitter has been used as a tool for social uprisings around the world in the past year, from the Occupy Wall Street movement to the Arab Spring protests across the Middle East.

“As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression,” said Twitter’s blog post.

Twitter’s new policy was met with objections via — what else? — Twitter posts. A group called Demand Progress posted a petition to the company: “We need you to keep fighting for and enabling freedom of expression — not rationalize away totalitarianism as a legitimate ‘different idea.’”

But the First Amendment in the U.S. is not widely matched around the world. Twitter pointed out that France and Germany ban pro-Nazi comments as hate speech. And its new censorship policy could also apply to South Korea’s 2010 ban on North Korea’s Twitter account. South Korea’s Communications Standards Commission said it contained “illegal information.”

Twitter is currently blocked in China, where in 2010 Google had a highly publicized face-off with the country’s government. Google finally stopped censoring online searches in China and directed users to its servers in Hong Kong, where the rules are looser.

“It’s understandable that users will be upset” with Twitter’s new policy, said Wong, “but there’s only so much a company can do to push back against governments.”

Libel and censorship on t’Internet – 190 countries control your words

By Tim Worstall

LIBEL and censorship on the internet is big news. This new move by Twitter tells us something that most people don’t realise about this lovely playground that is the internet:

Twitter has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis. 

The additional flexibility announced on Thursday is likely to raise fears that Twitter’s commitment to free speech may be weakening as the short-messaging company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money. 

But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or tweets, remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world.

Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweet containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.

I’ve been saying this for years but all too many still don’t believe me. When you post something on the internet you are not liable for the libel and censorship laws of where you posted it. You are liable for the libel and censorship laws in the countries where it is read.
The general rule is that downloading into a browser is publication: before you downloaded the page a copy did not exist in that legal jurisdiction. After you did it did, so you, by downloading, have published it.


This doesn’t apply just to libel and censorship either. Photos of kiddie fiddling for example: looking at it is publication, because while you’re looking at it there are two copies, one on the server and one on your machine. Thus you are producing child porno, something which carries a much heavier sentence.


And yes this does apply to libel: Dow Jones (owners of the Wall Street Journal) paid libel damages in Australia for a piece published in New York and read by perhaps 20 people in Oz. Yahoo and e-Bay have had huge fights in France and Germany about people offering Nazi memorabilia for sale in the US or UK (legal in US and UK and verboeten in France and Germany). They’ve had to ensure that such pages cannot be seen in those countries.
A particularly vile holocaust denier, writing in Oz, on a server in Oz, the Germans tried to have him extradited from the UK when he visited: because the pages could be (and were) read in Germany then they claimed this was a breach of the German laws against holocaust denial.


This internet, this World Wide Web thing: we’re not subject to the laws in the place we write, where we have our servers. We’re subject to the laws of where our readers are. Yup, all 190 odd UN members, all 250 odd various legal jurisdictions.