Twitter tweaks rules after calls to ban Trump

Twitter has said if politicians break its rules, their tweets may be quarantined, meaning users cannot reply to it, “like” it or share it.

The tweaked rules follow renewed pressure from Democrats to remove US President Donald Trump from the platform.

Twitter said it was in “the public interest” to not remove politicians’ tweets.

But world leaders were “not above our policies entirely”.

Twitter said: “Direct interactions with fellow public figures, comments on political issues of the day, or foreign policy sabre-rattling on economic or military issues are generally not in violation of the Twitter rules.”

But it would take action if an account:

• threatened an individual
• promoted terrorism or self-harm
• posted private information, such as a phone number

Many Democrats have said President Trump’s tweets do threaten individuals, pointing to a series of recent ones aimed at the anonymous “whistleblower” whose allegations kick-started impeachment moves against the president.

In the past, tweets aimed at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, one showing the president at a pro-wrestling event throwing to the floor a man with a CNN logo for a head and retweets of inflammatory videos from a British far-right group have also been cited as examples of rule-breaking.