Twitter on Thursday announced that it is now able to block tweets that run afoul of certain countries' restrictions on speech, but that has prompted backlash from users who fear the micro-blogging service will honor takedown requests from repressive regimes.
In explaining the move, Twitter mentioned France and Germany, which ban pro-Nazi speech. But many users questioned how this might play out in the Middle East, for example, where social networks like Twitter and Facebook played a key role as organizational tools during last year's Arab Spring uprisings.
As a result, the term #TwitterCensored is now a trending topic in the United Arab Emirates. Many angry users have also pledged not to use Twitter on Saturday, Jan. 28 in protest of the move, much like the anti-SOPA/PIPA Internet blackouts here in the United States.
"Dear @Twitter, You're going to censor your own site and assist with oppression around the globe? #TwitterCensored #BloodOnHands," tweeted one user.
"ERROR 404 - Freedom not found #TwitterCensored #StopCensorship," a Twitter feed associated with hacker collective Anonymous wrote.
Reporters Without Borders penned a letter to Twitter executive chairman Jack Dorsey today, urging him to ditch the idea.
"We urge you to reverse this decision, which restricts freedom of expression and runs counter to the movements opposed to censorship that have been linked to the Arab Spring, in which Twitter served as a sounding board," director Olivier Basille wrote. "By finally choosing to align itself with the censors, Twitter is depriving cyberdissidents in repressive countries of a crucial tool for information and organization."
Another Anonymous feed, meanwhile, suggested that the move had something to do with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Tala's $300 million investment in Twitter.
"What did ya'll think was going to happen when Saudi invested $300,000,000 in Twitter? Saudi's are NOT big on free speech!! #TwitterCensored," the group tweeted.
Alwaleed, however, is a frequent tech investor. He owns stock in or has poured money into Apple, Hewlett Packard, and more, and was active in the dot-com boom, investing in Web companies such as Priceline.
Another Twitter user pointed out that Alwaleed only owns 3 percent of Twitter, which he said was "hardly decision-making" status.
Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the backlash, but in explaining the new policy yesterday, the company said that if "we receive a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to reactively withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time," Twitter said.
It did not define what a "valid and properly scoped" request would entail, but stressed that "we strongly believe that the open and free exchange of information has a positive global impact."
Like other Web companies, Twitter has long encountered Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) takedown notices over questionable material. As part of yesterday's announcement, Twitter said it has expanded its partnership with Chilling Effects for a new page, chillingeffects.org/twitter, which shows Twitter-related cease-and-desist notices.
"One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user's voice," Twitter concluded. "We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The Tweets must continue to flow."
