In an effort to expand into global markets that do not necessarily have a free press, Twitter announced on Friday that it has developed technology to censor tweets by country – effectively debilitating the uncontrolled social force that Twitter became during 2011’s “Arab Spring” and 2009’s Iranian revolt that used Twitter to organize protests quickly and spontaneously.
Websites like Twitter and Facebook have been under pressure from the governments of controlled societies for allowing users to get around speech controls. Twitter, I particular, has been used by dissidents in closed societies to popularize criticism of those governments and, at times, to foment unrest.
China, in particular, home to the largest population to internet users on Earth censors several key words. In order for Twitter to fully break into the Asian market, they needed to adapt to Chinese censorship laws.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Twitter will work with the internet freedom watchdog Chilling Effects, where it will post content take-down notices.
"If Twitter starts censoring, then I'll stop tweeting," tweeted Ai Weiwei, perhaps China’s most famous dissident. Weiwei expresses a sentiment that many other social Twitter users agree with; with these rules in place, the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and the social upheaval in the United States and the United Kingdom that occurred directly as a result of organizing on Twitter would not have occurred.
The market is open now for a Twitter-like device whose focus is exclusively on not cooperating with autocratic regimes. It may not be a profitable venture, but it is certainly a worthwhile one.
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