Twitter has blocked 31 accounts that archived deleted tweets of various political figures internationally. This decision has provoked outcry from the Open State Foundation, but Twitter has insisted that all Twitter users are equally deserving of the right to delete tweets.
The social media site had already, in June, blocked Politwoops US, which collected and kept account of deleted tweets by US legislators. The Twitter account of the UK version of Politwoops, at @deletedbyMPs, is one of the further 31 accounts barred from continuing to archive political tweets.
Twitter has justified its decision in a statement sent to the Open State Foundation, which runs these accounts. Twitter argued: “Imagine how nerve-racking – terrifying, even – tweeting would be if it was immutable and irrevocable? No one user is more deserving of that ability than another. Indeed, deleting a tweet is an expression of the user’s voice.”
However, the Foundation’s director, Arjan El Fassed, has countered that even deleted tweets by politicians are “part of parliamentary history” and the blocked Twitter pages provided “a unique insight on how messages from elected politicians can change without notice.”