Asia Bizz: Social networking site Twitter recently announced that it could remove tweets in certain countries which have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. But it seems like the idea hasn’t gone down well with the Twitter users, who have now threatened to to go on a one day boycott.
The social network was known for the promotion of free expression on the internet, but now the website said that it would block certain messages if any government or organizations complain about individual tweets.
Twitter added that it would not use ‘the gagging system in a blanket fashion and would apply it on a case by case basis’. But this wasn’t enough to calm down the freedom of speech campaigners and the Twitter users.
Media commentator, Jess Jarvis, said that the move has set Twitter in to the ‘Slippery Slope of censorship’. Jarvis added that he understood why the social network is doing this as they want to enter more countries and deal with the local laws. A Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said that if Twitter starts censoring then he would stop Tweeting. The other critical Tweets are shows the blue bird with a red cross or a black strip over its beak. The social network announced a day after the first anniversary of the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt.
