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Twitter Thailand is trying to encourage self-censorship

20 May 2020

I’m one of the early Twitter users in Thailand. I’ve been on the platform for over 13 years. I love the platform because it ensures user should feel safe expressing their unique point of view with every Tweet.

Today @TwitterThailand tweets series of “5 tips for using Twitter safer” that said:

The Messages

message #1

Rough Translation : 5 tip you must know for using Twitter safer. 1) Setup 2 factor authentication to send an OTP [One-time password] to your mobile phone. This additional step will improve security to the account. (A link for ‘How to use two-factor authentication)

message #2

Rough Translation : 2) Easily protect your account by protecting your messages to be seen by your followers only (Those who need to follow you need to be approved by you) and those messages will not appear on Google Search results. (A link for ‘How to protect and unprotect your Tweets’)

message #3

Rough Translation : You can limit certain accounts not to contact you, seeing your messages and prevent them to follow you. You can also Mute messages on your timeline and do not need to unfollow or block that account. (A link for ‘How to block accounts on Twitter’)

message #4

Rough Translation : Think before Tweet. Reading your message twice before Tweeting is recommended. Or it will be easier if you not Tweet negatively to the others if you don’t want to be Tweet negatively in return.

message #5

Rough Translation : Beware sharing a personal information. Twitter allows you to choose whether you want to share your location on the profile or in the message. You can turn-off this function, or if you decide to share your location, please think before sharing. (A link for Tweet location FAQs)

My note

Message #1, #2, #3 and #5 look normal. They’re good messages that introduce useful features on the system.

Message #4 is not normal. It’s ok if Twitter want to say to its users to think twice before tweet. But @TwitterThailand is specifically mentioned …it will be easier if you not Tweet negatively to the others if you don’t want to be Tweet negatively in return. This could jeopardized its principles and decourage its users to expressing their unique point of view with every Tweet.

I’ve mentioned @jack, the CEO of Twitter about this:

In the meantime, I’ll cease my activities on Twitter until I get explanation from them.

Update 25/05/2020

It’s pretty clear that Twitter is not going to response my inquiry. Therefore it safe to say that Twitter encourage its users in Thailand to not Tweet negatively to the others if you don’t want to be Tweet negatively in return, and therefore jeopardized its global principles.

So I decide to stop using Twitter after 13 years on the platform and move to Mastodon on my own instance at bannok.club.