Twitter now labels government , state media accounts

MANILA, Philippines — Social media company Twitter will now label government and state-affiliated media accounts in a bid to make conversations more transparent on the online platform.

Twitter on Thursday said it would use two distinct profile labels – “government account” and “state-affiliated media” – to enable users to easily identify them and their tweets.

The policy had been rolled out to accounts linked with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, France, Russia United Kingdom and the United States – with a future plan to expand to other countries.

Covered by the new policy are the accounts of key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople and key diplomatic leaders.

However, personal accounts of heads of state such as that of US President Donald Trump have not been labeled “as these accounts enjoy widespread name recognition, media attention and public awareness.”