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Previously if something was tweeted on Twitter that may have an offensive or controversial impact on a specific nation the micro-blog site would simply block the remark and it would be deleted outright and worldwide. Now Twitter has confirmed in a blog that internationally sensitive tweets can still appear to some, where to those effected the tweet will become invisible or as the blog states “reactively withhold content from users in a specific country”.

Twitter says “We haven’t yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld”.

Some countries such as China do not allow Twitter full stop with alternatives surfacing to fill the public need for telling the world their business in minute by minute updates. Tweets often get banned due to the effect they could have on world relations from small scale to much larger scale. For example if someone doesn’t agree with someone else’s view – and as we know Twitter is full of opinions. Twitter’s move into a global market will require the social site to clean up its act somewhat and complaints of “casual” rascism, acceptable to some, but which could be considered unabashed biogotry to some countries are a constant issue for the site.

“As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content” reads the blog.

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Tags: ban, Block, country, International, nation, offensive, racism, tweets, Twitter, withheld, withhold