Twitter has revealed that a new collection of labels will soon be rolled out to classify government employees. This will include personal accounts of world leaders, government-affiliated media outlets, global leaders, and organizations affiliated with national central authorities.
The step appears to be aimed at identifying reliable sources of information in each country, which in international geo-socio-political discussions would be especially useful. Intriguingly, however, it is obvious that the latest Twitter labels will only cover China, Russia, the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, USA, UK), and a host of some more, but not India.
At the present, the qualifying criteria for Twitter behind the new labels’ introduction are not completely clear. In a blog post describing the change, Twitter notes that they have described the nations where the labels will be relevant as having “state-linked information operations”
“Our focus is on senior officials, heads of state, and institutions that are the voice of the nation-state abroad, specifically the account categories listed above. We believe this is an important step so that when people see an account discussing geopolitical issues from another country, they have context on its national affiliation, and are better informed about who they represent. We’re also focused on those within the respective administrations underneath the head of state that offers its policy perspective abroad”. It further explains.
Decision And Comments By Twitter:
It seems odd, by its own measure and clarification, that Twitter has not given government employees in India the same method. The social media company is currently in the midst of a kind of political power struggle in India. This is after it allegedly refused to comply with the request of the Indian central government to remove profiles of a number of people.
The action was taken for the people who are claimed to have been classified by the government as dissenting voices, with respect to the current farmers’ protests in India. In such a scenario, the perfect step forward for Twitter would have been to apply approved labels to the accounts of key governments, news outlets, and central government-related organizations.
As a result, it is not completely clear why Twitter didn’t include any Indian in the list of nations where the additional verification mark will be received on their accounts by government officials and affiliated sources.
Many government leaders have urged Indians to come on board Koo, an app created by Indian businessmen Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka that mimics Twitter. However, it operates in vernacular languages, after stating it failed to comply with the administration’s requests.
