27/01/2012

Twitter is going to begin censoring content on a country-by-country basis.

In response to Twitter's growing global presence and forays into countries with different perspectives on freedom of expression, the company says it now has the ability to withhold content from users in specific countries.

In a blog post, Twitter said: "Many countries … agree that freedom of expression carries with it responsibilities and has limits.

"Starting today (January 26th), we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country."

Although Twitter says it is yet to implement the technology and will try to avoid doing so where possible, it says should it do so, it will attempt to inform the user concerned and make details of the censorship known through the Chilling Effects portal.

It says, for instance, that it would restrict Nazi-related content in countries like France and Germany where such references might constitute a criminal offence.