New York (AFP)

Regardless of the accusations of censorship, Twitter decided Thursday to harden the tone of messages from politicians inciting violence or hatred with measures that may also apply to US President Donald Trump.

The social network has clear rules for all tweets specifically calling for violence against an individual or community, glorifying terrorism or harassing a particular person.

But the boundaries become blurred when the messages come from a senior official. A fortiori when they are written by the leader of the first world power, accustomed to a rhetoric sometimes considered aggressive or insulting on his account followed by 61 million subscribers.

Also Twitter plans to precede the litigious tweets a message explaining that they violate the rules of the social network but they are still broadcast in "the interest of the general public," details the group in a blog post. And make them less visible.

"Participating in the public debate includes providing the opportunity for everyone to talk about issues that matter to them, this can be particularly important when it comes to government officials or politicians," says Twitter.

"Because of their position, these leaders have a huge influence and sometimes say things that can be considered controversial or invite debate and discussion," the group added.

Also, "there are some cases where it is in the interest of the public to have access to some tweets, even when they normally violate our rules," said the social network acknowledging having already let pass contestable messages. "In these very rare occasions, we will place a warning, a screen that will have to be clicked before seeing the tweet, to provide context and clarity."

- Less visibility -

In addition to this warning, Twitter plans to offer the relevant tweets less visibility on the social network. For example, they can not appear in the modes programmed to censor sensitive content or among the list of most popular messages.

The new rule will apply to government officials, elected officials, candidates for election or government office, with more than 100,000 subscribers. It will also require that the account has been certified by Twitter.

It will be valid for tweets broadcast from Thursday but not for previous messages.

These measures come in the wake of a new salvo of attacks by the American president against the social network in an interview with Fox Business Network.

As he regularly does, he has once again accused technology giants as colluding with the left and specifically criticized Twitter for censoring him by "preventing people" from following him on this social network. "So I have a lot more trouble getting my message across," he lamented.

But since his arrival at the White House, voices have been raised on many occasions to ask Twitter to suspend @realDonaldTrump account.

The social network has so far always responded that the "informative value" of some messages required that they remain on the platform.

With its new rules, the group hopes to "find the right balance between freedom of expression, the ability to hold accounts and the reduction of the potential harm that these tweets can cause."

A Twitter team will determine the messages that may be affected.

"In cases where tweets violate our rules and we feel that it is not in the public interest to leave them visible, we will require the account owner to remove them," says the social network.

Twitter had already warned in March that it was planning to accompany elements of context some tweets from political figures.

? 2019 AFP