Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 21:54, 4 January 2025

Censorship of Twitter refers to Internet censorship by governments that block access to Twitter (officially known as X since July 2023). Twitter censorship also includes governmental notice and take down requests to Twitter, which it enforces in accordance with its Terms of Service when a government or authority submits a valid removal request to Twitter indicating that specific content published on the platform is illegal in their jurisdiction.

Currently, Twitter is blocked in eight countries around the world: China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Censorship on Twitter

Restrictions based on government request

Twitter acts on complaints by third parties, including governments, to remove illegal content in accordance with the laws of the countries in which people use the service. On processing a successful complaint about an illegal tweet from "government officials, companies or another outside party", the social networking site will notify users from that country that they may not see it.

France

Following the posting of antisemitic and racist posts by anonymous users, Twitter removed those posts from its service. Lawsuits were filed by the Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), a French advocacy group and, on January 24, 2013, Judge Anne-Marie Sauteraud ordered Twitter to divulge the personally identifiable information about the user who posted the antisemitic post, charging that the posts violated French laws against hate speech. Twitter responded by saying that it was "reviewing its options" regarding the French charges. Twitter was given two weeks to comply with the court order before daily fines of €1,000 (about US$1,300) would be assessed. Issues over jurisdiction arise, because Twitter has no offices nor employees within France, so it is unclear how a French court could sanction Twitter.

India

Twitter accounts spoofing the Prime Minister of India such as "PM0India", "Indian-pm" and "PMOIndiaa" were blocked in India in August 2012 following violence in Assam.

During the curfew in Jammu and Kashmir after the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, the Indian government approached Twitter to suspend accounts which were spreading rumours and anti-India content. This included the Twitter account of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a Kashmiri separatist leader. On August 3, 2019, Geelani tweeted "India is about to launch the biggest genocide in the history of mankind", leading which, his account was suspended on request by authorities. Two days later, on August 5, the Indian parliament passed resolution to bifurcate the Jammu and Kashmir state into two union territories.

In February 2021, Twitter blocked hundreds of accounts that were posting about the Indian farmers protest from being accessed by users in India, by request of the Ministry of Home Affairs; the government ministry alleged that the accounts were spreading misinformation. Later that month, Twitter became subject to the national Social Media Ethics Code, which expects all social media companies operating in the country to remove content by request of the government within 36 hours, and appoint a local representative who is an Indian resident and passport holder

On May 18, 2021, Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson Sambit Patra posted an image alleged to be from an internal Indian National Congress (INC) document, detailing a social media campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to criticize his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The INC disputed the posts and claimed that they were fabricated. Twitter subsequently marked the post as containing manipulated media. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology issued a request for Twitter to remove the label, alleging that Twitter's decision was "prejudged, prejudiced, and a deliberate attempt to colour the investigation by the local law enforcement agency". After Twitter refused to remove the label, its offices in New Delhi were raided by police.

In June 2021, Twitter lost its immunity as an "intermediary" under the Information Technology Act for its failure to appoint a local representative. It will be considered publisher of all materials posted on the platform. Later the same month, police in Uttar Pradesh registered a case against Twitter accusing it of distribution of child pornography. In March 2022, Delhi High Court questioned Twitter on why it would not block users posting objectionable content about Hindu Gods in the same way they blocked US President Donald Trump. The court sought a detailed explanation of Twitter's policies and asked them to file an affidavit.

In July 2022, Twitter started a lawsuit against the government of India after being ordered to remove multiple accounts and tweets that violated India's laws. Twitter is arguing that the laws are too restrictive and challenging the orders to block content. The company stated that some of the blocking demands "pertain to political content that is posted by official handles of political parties" and said that such orders are "a violation of the freedom of speech".

On August 19, 2023, Twitter suspended NewsClick's account. The following day, it suspended the account of The Kashmir Walla, a Kashmiri news portal.

Israel

In 2016, access to comments by the American blogger Richard Silverstein about a criminal investigation, which involved a minor and therefore was under a gag order according to Israeli law, was blocked to Israeli IP addresses, following a request by Israel's Ministry of Justice.

Pakistan

In May 2014, Twitter regularly disabled the ability to view specific "tweets" inside Pakistan, at the request of the government of Pakistan on the grounds that they were blasphemous, having done so five times in May.

On November 25, 2017, the NetBlocks internet shutdown observatory and Digital Rights Foundation collected evidence of nation-wide blocking of Twitter alongside other social media services, imposed by the government in response to the religious political party Tehreek-e-Labaik protests. The technical investigation found that all major Pakistani fixed-line and mobile service providers were affected by the restrictions, which were lifted by the PTA the next day when protests abated following the resignation of Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid.

Russia

On May 19, 2014, Twitter blocked a pro-Ukrainian political account for Russian users. It happened soon after a Russian official had threatened to ban Twitter entirely if it refused to delete "tweets" that violated Russian law, according to the Russian news site Izvestia.

On July 27, 2014, Twitter blocked an account belonging to a hacker collective that has leaked several internal Kremlin documents to the Internet.

On March 10, 2021, Roskomnadzor began throttling Twitter on all mobile devices and 50% of computers due to claims that Twitter regulatory board failed to remove illegal content that includes suicide, child pornography, and drug use. They issued Twitter could be blocked in Russia if it did not comply. In an e-mail statement Twitter stated it was "deeply concerned to throttle online public conversation."

From March to April 2021, Roskomnadzor considered a ban and the removal of the IP of Twitter from Russia completely. The government agency was met with denials and lack of urgency from the social network. Roskomnadzor has the necessary “technical capabilities” to completely remove Twitter from Russian domain. The severity of the situation occurred when over 3,000 posts containing child pornography in violation of Community Guidelines have been detected in 2021 by the agency that was later sent to Twitter regulatory board for verification. However Twitter sent no response back to the agency concerning the illegal content and has thereafter been charged of withholding its duty to maintain the social network's Community Guidelines.

On April 2, 2021, a Russian court found Twitter guilty on three counts of "violating regulations on restricting unlawful content," and ordered Twitter to pay $117,000 in fines. On April 5, 2021, Russia extended its throttling of Twitter until May 15, 2021. On May 17, 2021, Roskomnadzor said that Twitter had removed 91% of the banned content and backed off on blocking Twitter. Barring 600 posts still pending removal, the government agency also said they would continue throttling Twitter on Mobile Devices only saying that Twitter needed to remove all the banned items and in the future delete reportedly illegal posts within 24 hours for all restrictions to be lifted.

South Korea

In August 2010, the government of South Korea tried to block certain content on Twitter due to the North Korean government opening a Twitter account. The North Korean Twitter account created on August 12, uriminzok, loosely translated to mean "our people" in Korean, acquired over 4,500 followers in less than one week. On August 19, 2010, South Korea's state-run Communications Standards Commission banned the Twitter account for broadcasting "illegal information." According to the BBC, experts claim that North Korea has invested in "information technology for more than 20 years" with knowledge of how to use social networking sites. This appeared to be "nothing new" for North Korea as the reclusive country has always published propaganda in its press, usually against South Korea, calling them "warmongers." With only 36 posts, the Twitter account was able to accumulate almost 9,000 followers. To date, the South Korean Commission has banned 65 sites, including the Twitter account.

Turkey

On April 20, 2014, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FAZ, reported Twitter had blocked two regime hostile accounts in Turkey, @Bascalan and @Haramzadeler333, both known for pointing out corruption. In fact, on March 26, 2014, Twitter announced that it started to use its Country Withheld Content tool for the first time in Turkey. As of June 2014, Twitter was withholding 14 accounts and "hundreds of tweets" in Turkey.

Turkey submitted the highest volume of removal requests to Twitter in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, while in 2019, it was third. As of 2017, Twitter reported that the government of Turkey accounted for more than 52 percent of all content removal requests worldwide.

Venezuela

Twitter images were temporarily blocked in Venezuela in February 2014, along with other sites used to share images, including Pastebin.com and Zello, a walkie-talkie app. In response to the block, Twitter offered Venezuelan users a workaround to use their accounts via text messaging on their mobile phones.

On February 27, 2019, internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported the blocking of Twitter by state-run Internet provider CANTV for a duration of 40 minutes. The disruption followed the sharing of a tweet made by opposition leader Juan Guaidó linking to a highly critical recording posted to SoundCloud, which was also restricted access during the incident. The outages were found to be consistent with a pattern of brief, targeted filtering of other social platforms established during the country's presidential crisis.

Suspending and restricting users

Under Twitter's Terms of Service which requiring users agreement, Twitter retains the right to temporarily or permanently suspend user accounts based on violations. One such example took place on December 18, 2017, when it banned the accounts belonging to Paul Golding, Jayda Fransen, Britain First, and the Traditionalist Worker Party. Then-President of the United States Donald Trump faced a limited degree of censorship in 2019. Trump has used the platform extensively as a means of communication, and has escalated tensions with other nations through his tweets. Following the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Twitter permanently suspended Trump's personal Twitter account on January 8, 2021, at 6:21 EST. Trump then posted four status updates on the presidential @POTUS Twitter account which were subsequently removed. Twitter said they would not suspend government accounts, but will "instead take action to limit their use."

Semi-censorship

Twitter's policies have been described as subject to manipulation by users who may coordinate to flag politically controversial tweets as allegedly violating the platform's policies, resulting in deplatforming of controversial users or users who made tweets they object to. The platform has long been criticized for its failure to provide details of underlying alleged policy violations to the subjects of Twitter suspensions and bans.

In 2018, the platform introduced hiding tweets from certain accounts in conversations and search results under "Show more replies". When Twitter's software decides that a certain user is "detract from the conversation", that user's tweets will be hidden from search results and public conversations until an unspecified change occurs, with the user not being made aware that they're being semi-censored in this way or why. Studies have called the hiding 'reply deboosting' and found that 6.2% of the 41,092 existing accounts in their dataset had been shadow banned at least once during the study period. As of 2023, there is no place to report unwarranted hiding of tweets, nor are there any measures to ensure hiding is not arbitrary or for questionable purposes such as commercial interests. Through these and other features, platforms like Twitter conduct an intransparent 'management of visibilities' that steers and nudges audiences in more or less subtle ways.

For several years, many social media users have expressed concerns about algorithmic suppression. A number of those users may have collected specific tweets that have been hidden. Nevertheless, according to a 2022 news report, "ocial-media companies deny quietly suppressing content". A study crawled more than 2.5 million Twitter profiles and found that nearly one in 40 had their tweets hidden. Tweets hidden this way do not show up in the notifications of the person replied to and most people browsing a Twitter thread may not click the button to see additional replies. A study about practices of 'silencing' users on social media suggests that that algorithms play a critical role in steering online attention on social media has implications for algorithmic accountability. In 2022, it was reported that Musk didn't clarify what metrics Twitter might use to determine if a tweet may be "wrong and bad" or "destructive to the world". He clarified "Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom of reach", which may underline how he and the platform can continue to hide or deboost any content for any unspecified reasons.

Incidents

In 2018, Twitter rolled out a "quality filter" that hid content and users deemed "low quality" from search results and limited their visibility, leading to accusations of shadow banning. After conservatives claimed it censors users from the political right, Alex Thompson, a writer for VICE, confirmed that many prominent Republican politicians had been "shadow banned" by the filter. Twitter later acknowledged the problem, stating that the filter had a software bug that would be fixed in the near future.

In October 2020, Twitter prevented users from tweeting about a New York Post article about the Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory, relating to emails about Hunter Biden allegedly introducing a Ukrainian businessman to his father, Joe Biden. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz described the blocking of the New York Post on Twitter as "election interference". The New York Times reported in September 2021 that a Federal Election Commission inquiry into a complaint about the matter found Twitter had acted with a valid commercial reason, rather than a political purpose. The FEC inquiry also found that allegations Twitter had violated election laws by allegedly shadow banning Republicans and other means were "vague, speculative and unsupported by the available information."

In 2023, under Elon Musk's ownership, posts containing the keyword "Substack" were temporarily restricted, and liking, sharing and searching for such tweets were prevented. Matt Taibbi, a Twitter Files author, was also temporarily shadow banned.

Government blocking of Twitter access

In some cases, governments and other authorities law take unilateral action to block Internet access to Twitter or its content.

Current

China

Twitter is officially blocked in China; however, many Chinese people circumvent the block to use it. Even major Chinese companies and national medias, such as Huawei and CCTV, use Twitter through a government-approved VPN. The official account of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs started tweeting in English in December 2019; meanwhile, Chinese diplomats, embassies and consulates maintained 55 identified accounts on Twitter as of 2019, with over half having been established within the year alone.

In 2010, Cheng Jianping was sentenced to one year in a labor camp for "retweeting" a comment that suggested boycotters of Japanese products should instead attack the Japanese pavilion at Expo 2010. Her fiancé, who posted the initial comment, claims it was actually a satire of anti-Japanese sentiment in China.

According to a Washington Post report, in 2019, state security officials visited some users in China to request them to delete certain tweets. The Chinese police would produce printouts of tweets and advise users to delete either the specific messages or their entire accounts. The New York Times described the process as "unusually broad and punitive". The targets of the crackdown even included lurkers on the platform with very few followers. In 2019, a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison when he returned to China, for posting tweets mocking Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping while in the US.

On July 3, 2020, Twitter announced that all data and information requests for Hong Kong authorities were immediately paused after the Hong Kong national security law, which was imposed by the Chinese government, went into effect. According to the official verdicts as of 2020, at least hundreds of Chinese were sentenced to prison for using Twitter to like, post or share tweets. According to the documents obtained by the New York Times in 2021, Shanghai police were trying to use technology means to find out the true identities of Chinese users of specific accounts on foreign social media, including Twitter. In 2022, Peiter Zatko, Twitter's former head of security, accused Twitter of accepting funding from unnamed "Chinese entities", which gave them access to the information of users in China, and Twitter knew that could endanger these users. Zatko also disclosed that FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company.

Iran

During the 2009 Iranian presidential election, the Iranian government blocked Twitter due to fear of protests being organised. In September 2013, the blocking of both Twitter and Facebook was briefly lifted without notice due to a technical error, but within a day the websites were blocked again.

Myanmar

On February 5, 2021, the military State Administration Council, which assumed power following a coup d'état, ordered mobile and Internet providers to block Twitter and Instagram in the country, after a similar censorship measure was imposed on Facebook. A spokesperson for Twitter subsequently said that the company would "continue to advocate to end destructive government-led shutdowns".

North Korea

In April 2016, North Korea started to block Twitter "in a move underscoring its concern with the spread of online information". Anyone who tries to access it without special permission from the North Korean government, including foreign visitors and residents, is subject to punishment.

Pakistan

In February 2024, Twitter was blocked by Pakistani state authorities ahead of the 2024 general election. The ban was upheld in April, citing national security concerns. Despite the government's stance, both the government and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) refused to comment on the outages, which were widely reported by internet watchdog groups.

Activists challenging the ban argue that it was designed to suppress dissent following the general election, which was marred by widespread claims of vote rigging and subsequent protests. Authorities had also shut down mobile services on the day of the election, again citing security concerns. NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, reported that users were unable to access Twitter on February 10 while the country was awaiting election results.

In April, the Sindh High Court ordered the government to restore access to the platform within one week, according to a report by the AFP news agency, citing lawyer Moiz Jaaferi, who had launched a separate challenge against the ban. Despite this order, access to Twitter has been sporadic, with availability fluctuating based on the internet service provider, forcing users to rely on virtual private networks (VPNs), as noted by Alp Toker of NetBlocks.

Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, a prolific user of social media platforms, had been particularly impacted by this ban. This reliance on social media grew especially after the country's traditional media began censoring news about Khan and his party in the run-up to the election. Khan, who has more than 20 million followers on Twitter, saw his party call for protests against alleged rigging in the 2024 election. A government official's admission of vote manipulation in mid-February raised further concerns about the transparency of the election, confirming Khan's claims to many and furthering the allegations.

NetBlocks confirmed through its Live metrics showing Twitter had been restricted in Pakistan since February, with service remaining fully or intermittently restricted for most users. They added that the incident came amidst a surge in internet censorship during the general election. Asad Baig, a media strategist at Dawn News, said that "The government's actions reek of authoritarianism, stifling dissent, and silencing voices in the name of maintaining control." Several condemnations of the Pakistani Twitter ban were also exchanged by many non-governmental organizations.

Russia

On February 26, 2022, during the invasion of Ukraine, Russia began restricting access to Twitter, with global internet monitor NetBlocks observing that the censorship measure was in effect "across multiple providers." Despite direct connections being restricted, Russians could still access Twitter via VPN services. The decision was subsequently announced by Roskomnadzor as a measure to curtail information on Twitter and Facebook that did not align with the government of Russia's positions.

Turkmenistan

As of 2018, foreign news and opposition websites are blocked in Turkmenistan, and international social networks such as Twitter are "often inaccessible".

Venezuela

On August 8, 2024, President Nicolás Maduro announced a ban on access to Twitter for ten days amid anti-government protests, citing incitations of hatred, fascism and civil war. The ban was subsequently extended for an indefinite period.

Former

Brazil (2024)

On August 30, 2024, the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court judge Alexandre de Moraes issued an order requiring Brazilian ISPs to block Twitter due to Elon Musk's refusal to appoint a legal representative of Twitter in Brazil, which was required by Brazilian law. The ban itself came from previous conflicts between Musk and Moraes after Twitter under Musk revoked the suspension of accounts that were previously requested by the government to be blocked for misinformation regarding the 2023 Brazilian Congress attack. Moraes imposed a fine of R$50,000 (US$9,000) per day for anyone in Brazil who accessed Twitter using a virtual private network (VPN), and initially requested the removal of VPN apps from Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store. The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, supported the ban of Twitter in the country. On September 18, 2024, Twitter began serving its content through Cloudflare for requests originating from Brazil in an attempt to circumvent the ban. On October 8, 2024, Brazil's Supreme Federal Court lifted the ban on Twitter, allowing the platform to operate again across the country.

Egypt (2011)

Twitter was inaccessible in Egypt on January 25, 2011, during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Some news reports blamed the government of Egypt for blocking it. Vodafone Egypt, Egypt's largest mobile network operator, denied responsibility for the action in a tweet. Twitter's news releases did not state who the company believed instituted the block. As of January 26, Twitter was still confirming that the service was blocked in Egypt. On January 27, various reports claimed that access to the entire Internet from within Egypt had been shut down.

Shortly after the Internet shutdown, engineers at Google, Twitter, and SayNow, a voice-messaging startup company acquired by Google in January, announced the Speak To Tweet service. Google stated in its official blog that the goal of the service was to assist Egyptian protesters in staying connected during the Internet shutdown. Users could phone in a tweet by leaving a voicemail and use the Twitter hashtag #Egypt. These comments could be accessed without an Internet connection by dialing the same designated phone numbers. Those with Internet access could listen to the comments by visiting twitter.com/speak2tweet.

On February 2, 2011, connectivity was re-established by the four main Egyptian service providers. A week later, the heavy filtering that occurred at the height of the revolution had ended.

Nigeria (2021–2022)

Access to Twitter was blocked in Nigeria from June 5, 2021, to January 13, 2022. The blocking occurred after Twitter deleted tweets made by, and temporarily suspended, the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, warning the southeastern people of Nigeria, predominantly Igbo people, of a potential repeat of the 1967 Nigerian Civil War due to the ongoing insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria. The Nigerian government claimed that the deletion of the president's tweets factored into their decision, but it was ultimately based on "a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real world violent consequences", citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence.

Tanzania (2020)

On October 29, 2020, ISPs in Tanzania blocked access to Twitter and other social media platforms during the general election.

Turkey (2014, 2023)

On March 21, 2014, access to Twitter in Turkey was temporarily blocked, after a court ordered that "protection measures" be applied to the service. This followed earlier remarks by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who vowed to "wipe out Twitter" following damaging allegations of corruption in his inner circle. However, on March 27, 2014, Istanbul Anatolia 18th Criminal Court of Peace suspended the above-mentioned court order. Turkey's constitutional court later ruled that the ban was illegal. Two weeks after the Turkish government blocked the site, the Twitter ban was lifted.

Some of the country's Internet providers restricted access to Twitter during the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes and its aftermath. No official statement has been made regarding the restriction.

Uzbekistan (2021–2022)

On July 2, 2021, Uzbekistan blocked access to Twitter along with TikTok, VKontakte, and Skype after stating that they had violated a new personal data law. This also came amid new laws passed that criminalized insulting or slandering the president online, amid an upcoming presidential election later that year. The sites were briefly unblocked on March 16, 2022, before being blocked again hours later. The bans on access to Twitter and VKontakte were again lifted on August 1, 2022.

See also

• Censorship of TikTok
• Deplatforming
• Shadow banning
• Twitter suspensions
• Twitter Files

Notes

1. On November 20, 2022, Elon Musk lifted Trump's ban.

References

1. "Twitter's censorship plan rouses global furor". CBS News. Associated Press. January 27, 2012. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
2. Pfanner, Eric; Somini Sengupta (January 24, 2013). "In a French Case, a Battle to Unmask Twitter Users". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
3. "French court rules on hate tweets". UPI. January 25, 2013. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
4. Marchive, Valéry. "Twitter ordered to give up details of racist users". ZDNet. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
5. "India targets social media sites after Assam violence". BBC News. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017.
6. "Govt tells Twitter to block accounts inciting anti-India content using Kashmir". Hindustan Times. August 12, 2019. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019.
7. Tripathi, Rahul; Irfan, Hakeem (August 13, 2019). "Twitter told to take down handles spreading fake news about Kashmir Valley". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
8. "'India is about to launch the biggest genocide in IOK': Kashmiri leader urges Muslims to 'save our souls'". Pakistan Today. August 3, 2019. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
9. Singh, Karan Deep (February 10, 2021). "Twitter Blocks Accounts in India as Modi Pressures Social Media". The New York Times.
10. "Why Twitter Blocked Accounts Linked to Farmers Protests in India". Time.
11. Singh, Vijaita; Bhargava, Yuthika (February 1, 2021). "Twitter blocks several accounts posting messages in support of farmers' stir, restores most of them later". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.
12. Ramachandran, Naman (February 25, 2021). "India Publishes 'Digital Media Ethics Code' for Social Media and Streaming Platforms". Variety. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
13. ^ "Twitter marks BJP leader's post on Cong 'toolkit' manipulated; IT Ministry steps in, calls it biased". The Indian Express. May 22, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
14. "What is 'Congress toolkit' controversy: All you need to know | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. May 19, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
15. Ramachandran, Naman (May 24, 2021). "Twitter's India Offices Raided by Delhi Police After Political Tweet". Variety. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
16. "Legal protection of Twitter as intermediary is not absolute, it is compliance-oriented". Firstpost. June 18, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
17. "Twitter loses its status as intermediary platform in India due to non-compliance with new IT rules". The Economic Times. June 16, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
18. "Twitter faces new case for child pornography after India map row". al-Jazeera. Reuters. June 30, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
19. Saxena, Akshita (March 28, 2022). "Twitter Can Block Donald Trump's Account But Not User Posting Objectionable Content About Hindu Gods? Delhi High Court Asks". www.livelaw.in. LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
20. Singh, Manish (July 5, 2022). "Twitter, challenging block orders, sues India's government". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
21. Khanduri, Shailesh. "Newsclick's Twitter account suspended". www.newsdrum.in. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
22. "NAPM Condemns The Vindictive Targeting Of Progressive Media Houses, Including NewsClick| Countercurrents". countercurrents.org. August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
23. News Desk (August 20, 2023). "Kashmiri news portal The Kashmir Walla's Twitter account withheld in India". The Kashmiriyat. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
24. "Israeli Censorship on an American Tweet". Calcalist (in Hebrew). August 9, 2016. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
25. "Twitter Agrees To Remove Tweet At Israel's Request". Vocativ. August 11, 2016. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
26. "Twitter Agrees to Block 'Blasphemous' Tweets in Pakistan". The New York Times. May 22, 2014. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
27. "DRF and NetBlocks find blanket and nation-wide ban on social media in Pakistan and demand it to be lifted immediately". Digital Rights Foundation. November 26, 2017. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
28. "Activists assail blanket ban on social media". The Nation. November 27, 2017. Archived from the original on November 28, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
29. "All you need to know about nation-wide internet disruptions during dharna". Samaa TV. November 27, 2017. Archived from the original on November 27, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
30. "The issue of social media networking". The Nation. November 26, 2017. Archived from the original on November 28, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
31. Ries, Brian (May 19, 2014). "Twitter Blocks Pro-Ukrainian Political Account for Russian Users". Mashable. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
32. "Twitter 'Blocks' Access to Russia's Most Infamous Hackers". Global Voices. July 27, 2014. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
33. "Twitter says 'deeply concerned' after Russian move". Reuters. March 10, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
34. "Russia slows down Twitter in latest social media clampdown". CBS News. March 10, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
35. Shead, Sam (March 10, 2021). "Russia says it is slowing down Twitter to protect citizens from illegal content". CNBC. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
36. "Russia will block Twitter in one month unless it deletes banned content - Russian news agencies". Nasdaq. March 16, 2021.
37. Rosenbaum, Andrew (March 16, 2021). "Twitter faces shutdown in Russia unless banned content is deleted | Cyprus Mail". Cyprus Mail. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
38. ^ "Russia threatens to block Twitter in a month". CBS 42. March 16, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
39. "Russian court fines Twitter over failure to delete content". Reuters. April 2, 2021. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
40. Klar, Rebecca (April 2, 2021). "Russia fines Twitter for not removing posts". TheHill. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
41. "Twitter fined by Russian court for not taking down calls to protest". NBC News. April 2, 2021. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
42. "Russia partially halts punitive Twitter slowdown, warns other tech platforms". Reuters. May 17, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
43. "South Korea tries to block Twitter messages from North". Washingtonpost.com. August 21, 2010. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
44. ^ Sniderman, Zachary (August 19, 2010). "North Korea's Newly Launched Twitter Account Banned by South Korea". Mashable. Archived from the original on August 24, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
45. ^ Boyd, Clark (August 18, 2010). "North Korea creates Twitter and YouTube presence". BBC News. Archived from the original on September 10, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
46. "Twitter sperrt regierungsfeindliche Konten" (in German). April 20, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
47. Gadde, Vijaya (March 26, 2014). "Challenging the access ban in Turkey". Twitter Blog. Twitter. Archived from the original on July 12, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
48. Sözeri, Efe Kerem (June 28, 2014). "Twitter Yasakları: Yolsuzluk, Dedikodu ve Biraz Porno". Bianet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
49. "Turkey tops countries demanding content removal: Twitter". reuters. February 9, 2015. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
50. ^ Ant, Onur (March 22, 2017). "Half of All Requests to Remove Twitter Posts Come From Turkey". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017. ...Turkey accounted for more than half of all content removal requests sent to Twitter during the second half of 2016, a ranking it has topped for three years.
51. "Turkey leads the world in Twitter censorship — and no other country is even close". businessinsider. August 13, 2015. Archived from the original on August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
52. ^ "Removal Requests - Twitter Transparency Center". Twitter Transparency.
53. "Transparency Reports, Turkey". Twitter. 2017. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
54. Knibbs, Kate (February 17, 2014). "Venezuela censors tweets amid protests, Twitter confirms". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
55. Chao, Loretta (February 21, 2014). "Twitter, Other Apps Disrupted in Venezuela Amid Protests". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
56. "Twitter reports image blocking in Venezuela". USA Today. Associated Press. February 14, 2014. Archived from the original on November 22, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
57. "Twitter blocked in Venezuela". NetBlocks. February 27, 2019. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
58. Carballo, Betzimar (February 27, 2019). "NetBlocks: "Por primera vez durante la crisis Twitter fue bloqueado en Venezuela"". Caraota Digital (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 7, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
59. Ma, Alexandra. "Venezuela's Maduro has been blacking out social media — and sometimes the whole internet — to stifle his US-backed opposition". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
60. ^ Holt, Kris (June 12, 2012). "Dirty digital politics: How users manipulate Twitter to silence foes". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on December 12, 2018.
61. "Opinion | Why I'm done with Twitter's black hole of outrage". MSNBC.com. July 12, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
62. "Twitter Suspends Account Retweeted By President Trump". Loomered. December 17, 2019.
63. Schleifer, Theodore (June 27, 2019). "Twitter won't censor Trump's rule-breaking tweets, but it will make them harder to find". Vox.
64. Trump, Donald (January 8, 2021). "Donald Trump's twitter page". Twitter. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
65. Nakamura, David (January 9, 2020). "For Trump and Iran, trolling on Twitter helped escalate tensions on the battlefield". The Washington Post.
66. "Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account". BBC News. January 9, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
67. "Musk lifts Donald Trump's Twitter ban". BBC. November 20, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
68. Brian Fung (January 8, 2021). "Twitter bans President Trump permanently". CNN. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
69. Ohlheiser, Abby (July 22, 2016). "Here's what it takes to get banned from Twitter". Hamilton Spectator. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017.
70. Oremus, Will (May 15, 2018). "Twitter Will Start Hiding Tweets That "Detract From the Conversation"". Slate. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
71. Jaidka, Kokil; Mukerjee, Subhayan; Lelkes, Yphtach. "An audit of Twitter's shadowban sanctions in the United States". Retrieved September 19, 2023.
72. ^ Leerssen, Paddy (April 1, 2023). "An end to shadow banning? Transparency rights in the Digital Services Act between content moderation and curation". Computer Law & Security Review. 48: 105790. doi:10.1016/j.clsr.2023.105790. ISSN 0267-3649.
73. Tiffany, Kaitlyn (January 17, 2023). "Elon Musk Can't Solve Twitter's 'Shadowbanning' Problem". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
74. Nicholas, Gabriel (April 28, 2022). "Shadowbanning Is Big Tech's Big Problem". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
75. Le Merrer, Erwan; Morgan, Benoit; Trédan, Gilles (2020). "Setting the Record Straighter on Shadow Banning". arXiv:2012.05101 .
76. Jaidka, Kokil; Mukerjee, Subhayan; Lelkes, Yphtach (April 1, 2023). "Silenced on social media: the gatekeeping functions of shadowbans in the American Twitterverse". Journal of Communication. 73 (2): 163–178. doi:10.1093/joc/jqac050.
77. Fung, Brian; Duffy, Clare (May 10, 2022). "Elon Musk says he would reverse Twitter's Trump ban | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
78. Francesco, Lomonaco. "Raising Teenagers' Awareness of Social Media Threats: A Theoretical and Empirical Study". boa.unimib.it.
79. ^ Thompson, Alex (July 26, 2018). "Twitter appears to have fixed search problems that lowered visibility of GOP lawmakers". VICE News. Archived from the original on August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
80. Mihalcik, Carrie; Wong, Queenie (October 14, 2020). "Facebook, Twitter limit reach of New York Post article about Hunter Biden". CNET.
81. Isaac, Mike; Conger, Kate (October 22, 2020) . "Twitter Changes Course After Republicans Claim 'Election Interference'". The New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
82. Goldmacher, Shane (September 13, 2021). "The F.E.C. dismisses claims that Twitter illegally blocked a Hunter Biden article". The New York Times.
83. "Twitter ends Substack newsletter censorship, for now". The Hindu. April 11, 2023. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
84. "Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi 'shadow banned' by Elon Musk". April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
85. Bamman, D.; O'Connor, B.; Smith, N. (March 5, 2012). "Censorship and deletion practices in Chinese social media". First Monday. 17 (3). University of Illinois at Chicago. doi:10.5210/fm.v17i3.3943. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
86. "CCTV (@CCTV) | Twitter". twitter.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
87. "Huawei (@Huawei) | Twitter". twitter.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
88. Feng, Zhaoyin (December 29, 2019). "China and Twitter: The year China got louder on social media". BBC News.
89. Shahid, Aliyah (November 18, 2010). "Chinese woman, Cheng Jianping, sentenced to a year in labor camp over Twitter post". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
90. Shih, Gerry (January 4, 2019). "Chinese censors go old school to clamp down on Twitter: A knock on the door". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
91. Mozur, Paul (January 10, 2019). "Twitter Users in China Face Detention and Threats in New Beijing Crackdown". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
92. Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany (January 23, 2020). "University of Minnesota student jailed in China over tweets". Axios. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
93. Manfredi, Lucas (July 6, 2020). "Facebook, Twitter pause data requests from Hong Kong authorities over controversial security law". Fox Business. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
94. Dahai, Han (November 10, 2020). "Chinese Authorities Punish Citizens for Using Foreign Social Media". VOA. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
95. "Buying Influence: How China Manipulates Facebook and Twitter". The New York Times. December 20, 2021. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
96. "Twitter is vulnerable to Russian and Chinese influence, whistleblower says". CNN. August 23, 2022.
97. "FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in company -- whistleblower". Reuters. September 13, 2022.
98. "Iran Blocks Facebook, Twitter Sites Before Elections (Update1)". Bloomberg. May 23, 2009. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
99. Taylor, Chris (September 17, 2013). "Iran Unblocks Facebook and Twitter". Mashable. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
100. Iyengar, Rishi (February 5, 2021). "Myanmar blocks Twitter and Instagram". CNN. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
101. ^ Lyons, Kim (February 6, 2021). "Myanmar orders internet providers to block Twitter and Instagram in the country". The Verge. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
102. ^ Talmadge, Eric (April 4, 2016). "North Korea blocks Facebook, Twitter and YouTube". Global News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
103. "Pakistan says it blocked social media platform X over 'national security'". Al Jazeera. April 17, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
104. Aziz, Farieha (April 25, 2024). "The ministry of (dis)information and the ban on X". DAWN.COM. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
105. ^ "Pakistan says it blocked social media platform X over 'national security'". Al Jazeera. April 17, 2024. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
106. "Sindh High Court orders unblocking of social media platform X in Pakistan". www.canadianlawyermag.com. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
107. "X working with Pakistan govt to 'understand concerns' over ban". France 24. April 18, 2024. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
108. "Pakistan official admits involvement in rigging election results". Al Jazeera. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
109. "Key Ally of Pakistan's Prime Minister Demands End to Ban on X, Formerly Twitter". thediplomat.com. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
110. • @netblocks (March 5, 2024). "NetBlocks' official Tweet (1)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
     • @netblocks (February 24, 2024). "NetBlocks' official Tweet (2)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
111. Baig, Asad (April 27, 2024). "Censorship and disinformation". DAWN.COM. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
112. "Twitter and Facebook restricted in Russia amid conflict with Ukraine". NetBlocks. February 26, 2022.
113. "Russia restricts Twitter, Facebook during Ukraine attack". Axios.
114. Brandom, Russell (February 26, 2022). "Russia blocks Twitter as Ukraine invasion escalates". The Verge.
115. "Facebook And Twitter Have Been Blocked In Russia". BuzzFeed. March 4, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
116. BBC Monitoring (2018). "Turkmenistan country profile". BBC News. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
117. Barry, Eloise (January 18, 2022). "These Are the Countries Where Twitter and Facebook Are Banned". TIME. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
118. BBC Monitoring (2024). "Venezuelan president bans X for 10 days over Musk row". BBC News. Archived from the original on August 9, 2024. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
119. Maza, Jesús (August 23, 2024). "Nicolás Maduro extiende el bloqueo de la red social X en Venezuela de forma indefinida". La República (in Spanish). Retrieved August 30, 2024.
120. Rogero, Tiago (August 30, 2024). "Brazilian court orders suspension of Elon Musk's X after it missed deadline". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
121. Roth, Emma (August 30, 2024). "Judge orders X ban in Brazil". The Verge. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
122. Nicas, Jack; Conger, Kate (August 30, 2024). "Brazil Blocks X After Musk Ignores Court Orders". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
123. "Musk Finds a Way Around Brazil's X Ban". The New York Times. September 18, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
124. "Como mudança no X fez rede de Musk voltar a funcionar no Brasil" [How a change in X made Musk's network work again in Brazil]. BBC Brasil (in Portuguese). September 18, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
125. "Brazil's Supreme Court lifts ban on social media site X". CBS News. October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
126. Murphy, Dan (January 25, 2011). "Inspired by Tunisia, Egypt's protests appear unprecedented". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on February 22, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
127. @VodafoneEgypt (January 25, 2011). "We didn't block twitter..." Twitter. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
128. Sherman, Alex (January 26, 2011). "Twitter Says Access to Service in Egypt Is Blocked". Business Week. Archived from the original on January 29, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
129. "Twitter Comms: Egypt continues to block Twitter..." Twitter. January 26, 2011.
130. Kanalley, Craig (January 27, 2011). "Egypt's Internet Shut Down, According To Reports". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on January 29, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
131. Singh, Ujjwal. "Some weekend work that will (hopefully allow more Egyptians to be heard". Archived from the original on May 3, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
132. "Egypt internet comes back online". BBC News. February 2, 2011. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
133. Labovitz, Craig (February 2, 2011). "Egypt Returns to the Internet". Arbor Networks. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011.
134. Cowie, James (February 2, 2011). "Egypt Returns To The Internet". Renesys. Archived from the original on February 5, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
135. ^ Princewill, Nimi; Busari, Stephanie (June 4, 2021). "Nigeria bans Twitter after company deletes President Buhari's tweet". CNN. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
136. "Twitter removes Nigerian president's 'abusive' civil war post". Reuters. June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
137. "Nigeria Condemns Twitter for Deleting President Buhari's Tweet". Bloomberg.com. June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
138. "Twitter deletes Nigerian leader's 'civil war' post". BBC News. June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
139. Maclean, Ruth (June 5, 2021). "Nigeria Bans Twitter After President's Tweet Is Deleted". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
140. "Nigeria suspends Twitter after the social media platform freezes president's account". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
141. "Nigerians on Twitter react to Nigeria's Twitter suspension". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
142. "Twitter blocked in Nigeria after deleting a tweet by its president". www.theverge.com. June 5, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
143. "Nigeria's Twitter ban: Government orders prosecution of violators". BBC News. June 6, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
144. "BREAKING: FG suspends Twitter's operations in Nigeria". The Informant247 News. June 4, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
145. "Internet disrupted in Tanzania on eve of general elections". NetBlocks. October 27, 2020.
146. "Internet throttling, SMS blocking in days leading up to election in Tanzania". Global Voices. October 27, 2020.
147. "Tanzania Restricts Social Media". October 29, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
148. "Twitter website 'blocked' in Turkey". BBC News. March 21, 2014. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
149. "Turkey Twitter ban: Constitutional court rules illegal". BBC News. April 2, 2014. Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
150. "#BBCtrending: Turkey's Twitter block 'lifted'". BBC News. April 3, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
151. Belanger, Ashley (February 8, 2023). "Twitter restrictions in Turkey unprecedented during a natural disaster, org says". ArsTechnica. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
152. "Uzbekistan Restricts Access To Several Social Media Sites". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. March 7, 2021.
153. "Uzbekistan unblocks, re-blocks popular social media amid TikTok talks". eurasianet. March 17, 2022.
154. "Twitter unblocked in Uzbekistan". eurasianet. August 2, 2022. Archived from the original on August 9, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2023.

v t e Internet censorship circumvention technologies
Background	Internet censorship Internet censorship in China National intranet Censorship and blocking technologies IP address blocking DNS cache poisoning Wordfilter Great Firewall of China Blocks on specific websites Facebook GitHub Twitter Misplaced Pages
Principles	With a proxy server P2P Web proxies SSH VPN PAC Without a proxy server HTTPS IPv6 transition mechanism hosts DNSCrypt Domain fronting Refraction networking
Anti-censorship software	Free software Psiphon Shadowsocks OnionShare Outline VPN GoAgent PirateBox VPN Gate WireGuard Proprietary software Lantern Freegate Ultrasurf Hotspot Shield Telex Proxify Browser extensions Snowflake uProxy
Anonymity	Anonymous software Tor JAP (JonDonym) Flash proxy Mixmaster Anonymous P2P network Freenet I2P StealthNet Tribler ZeroNet
Physical circumvention methods	Sneakernet USB dead drop
Relevant organizations	GreatFire FreeWeibo Turkey Blocks
Reference	Great Cannon
Italics indicates that maintenance of the tool has been discontinued. Category Commons

• Twitter controversies
• Internet censorship
• Internet censorship by organization
• Twitter