Twitter announced that it would implement system that would filter tweets on a country-by-country basis. According to CEO Dick Costolo, this would not be a way to proactively censor contents on the micro-blogging platform.
Twitter received backlash from users last week after it made the announcement that it would block tweets that are deemed illegal in specific countries. The new policy would allow the company to deal with requests to remove certain content from the timeline.
Once Twitter gets a legal takedown order, it can now remove the content from users in that specific country and at the same time keep it available in other locations. This is to make takedowns as transparent as possible.
According to Costolo, his company needs to have this policy in place so that it can continue to operate in some countries. This is not an attempt to go into China, where the social media site is presently blocked. He added that he thinks that the current environment in China is not conducive for Twitter.
During the interview, the Twitter CEO also talked about the company’s stance on its future IPO and its role in the 2012 election, which he called a Twitter election. Most of the Republican presidential hopefuls have used Twitter as part of their campaign. Legislators have also actively used it for real-time feedback.
