Now Twitter will not delete harmful tweets from public figures, instead it will hide them

The micro-blogging site says it will start adding a special indication to certain tweets (certainly of public figures) even those that violate Twitter’s terms of service, but it will not remove them.

Twitter has just announced a new change in how harmful tweets of public figures that break its terms of service and community guidelines. This means that now if a figure like Prime Minister Imran Khan is going to tweet something that broke Twitter’s rules, the platform would notify users of the violation and lessen the reach of the tweet. So, if you are famous or rich, you don’t need to follow Twitter’s rule because they won’t delete your tweet.

Well, the relief in Twitter rules is just not for all. Twitter executives have confirmed that the new change will only apply to tweets from accounts belonging to political figures, verified users, and accounts with more than 100,000 followers.

According to The Verge, now if a tweet is flagged as “violating platform rules”, a Twitter team will decide whether it is a “matter of public interest.” If so, a light gray box will appear before the tweet notifying users that it’s in violation, but it will remain available to users who click through the box. In addition, this could preserve the tweet as part of the public record without allowing it to be promoted to new audiences through the Twitter platform.

Meanwhile, Twitter is determined to not make this feature a common thing, and it could be years before any Twitter employee will have to use it. Twitter’s desire to find a middle ground between not ruffling the feathers of important people and making everyone to comply with the rules, may not end up well.