Twitter has said it won't take down a controversial tweet from President Donald Trump which has been described by North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho as a declaration of war.
On September 23, Trump tweeted, "Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!"
Twitter faced questions on Monday from users on its platform about why the company hadn't taken the tweet down and whether Trump's tweet violated the company's rules. Those rules indicate the company can suspend an account that is deemed to have engaged in violent threats; attacks on people based on race, religion, gender and more; or "targeted abuse or harassment of others."
In a six-tweet response thread, Twitter said that when it considers removing a tweet, one of the factors it takes into account the newsworthiness and public interest of the post. The company also said it is "committed to transparency and keeping people informed about what's happening in the world."
On September 23, Trump tweeted, "Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!"
Twitter faced questions on Monday from users on its platform about why the company hadn't taken the tweet down and whether Trump's tweet violated the company's rules. Those rules indicate the company can suspend an account that is deemed to have engaged in violent threats; attacks on people based on race, religion, gender and more; or "targeted abuse or harassment of others."
In a six-tweet response thread, Twitter said that when it considers removing a tweet, one of the factors it takes into account the newsworthiness and public interest of the post. The company also said it is "committed to transparency and keeping people informed about what's happening in the world."
THREAD: Some of you have been asking why we haven't taken down the Tweet mentioned here: https://t.co/CecwG0qHmq 1/6— Twitter PublicPolicy (@Policy) September 25, 2017
We hold all accounts to the same Rules, and consider a number of factors when assessing whether Tweets violate our Rules 2/6— Twitter PublicPolicy (@Policy) September 25, 2017
Among the considerations is "newsworthiness" and whether a Tweet is of public interest 3/6— Twitter PublicPolicy (@Policy) September 25, 2017
This has long been internal policy and we'll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it. We need to do better on this, and will 4/6— Twitter PublicPolicy (@Policy) September 25, 2017
Twitter is committed to transparency and keeping people informed about what's happening in the world 5/6— Twitter PublicPolicy (@Policy) September 25, 2017
We’ll continue to be guided by these fundamental principles 6/6— Twitter PublicPolicy (@Policy) September 25, 2017