Twitter on 15th October 2019 said that the world leaders are “not above” their rules. And if any leader tries to violate the terms of the services then their tweets will be removed or demoted.
Twitter said in a statement while clearing the policies that the social platform has all the rights to go against the offending tweets and can take "enforcement action" on it. The offending tweets means threats of violence or posting any private information.
Twitter along with Facebook took this step after facing problems over the misleading and false statements from political leaders. Both the social giants- Facebook and Twitter said that they will not remove any "newsworthy" comments coming from the political leaders, and Facebook has removed political ads from fact-checking.
Twitter said this policy does not give political figures free maneuver.
The company said in a blog post, "We want to make it clear today that the accounts of world leaders are not above our policies entirely".
Twitter said that if any account “promotes terrorism” or “directs threats of violence” or “include private information (home address/ phone number)” then a strict action will be taken against them.
The same will be applied on the people who will post “intimate photos/ videos” of someone without their consent and “child sexual exploitation” or “promoting self-harm”.
Twitter has announced that it has not changed its policy, which leaves room for political speech.
The policy was announced in June 2019 and it removes many political commentaries from its rules.
Previously, it pointed out that if a world leader's tweet violates Twitter's rules, but there is "obvious public interest" in this information, the user may require users to click on the announcement, confirming that they want to see the message.
Twitter said "Our goal is to enforce our rules judiciously and impartially.''
It added "With critical elections and shifting political dynamics around the world, we recognize that we're operating in an increasingly complex and polarized political culture. These are constantly evolving challenges and we'll keep our policies and approach under advisement."
Facebook was smashed for giving permission to the President Donald Trump to run ads and according to the critics it included debunked information on Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Senator Elizabeth Warren came forward to fight against Facebook for running her ad with wrong information. She said: "Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook just endorsed Donald Trump for re-election."
Facebook noted that, like broadcasters, it does not seek to censor political messages.
