Twitter announced late last week it now has the ability to censor tweets by region and could begin doing so very soon.
“As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression,” the company said in a blog post. “Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there.”
Twitter referenced Germany and France, saying these two companies ban certain topics from discussion and these laws would need to be recognised.
However, Twitter users have been in an uproar over the announcement, suggesting it may lead to quashing freedom of speech in countries where Twitter has been used as a tool to organise protest.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
