DOHA: Qatar is the only Arab country which has not requested Twitter administration for information about the users of the popular social networking site, nor has it ever asked it to delete a tweet.
This is shown by Twitter in its transparency report for the first half (January to June) of 2013 posted on its website.
According to Twitter, the US, known for free speech and democracy, led the way, comprising 78 percent of all requests received.
Japan remained the second largest requester with a total of eight percent of overall requests, up from six percent between July and December last year.
Twitter said it confesses that it could not protect users and keep their identities and accounts a secret.
It said it has been facing huge pressure from different countries to reveal user information and delete tweets.
The social networking site received 1,157 requests from various governments in the first half of 2013. Such requests totalled 1,009 in the previous six months from July to December, 2012.
Twitter said it also received many requests for deleting tweets. Some of the requests were for those tweets that some countries said were illegal in their territories.
Copyright notice is a new category of tweets added by Twitter. These are tweets that involve copyright issues and alleged infringement of copyright laws.
To recall, social media has played a very active role in Arab Spring revolutions much to the discomfort of Arab governments.
Meanwhile, Twitter’s UK general manager apologised to yesterday women attacked by “trolls” on the microblogging website, as it updated its rules on abusive behaviour.
Tony Wang posted a series of tweets saying abuse was “simply not acceptable”, after Britain’s police said they were investigating allegations made by eight people.
It comes after three female journalists said they had been the subject of bomb threats, while two received threats of rape.
“I personally apologise to the women who have experienced abuse on Twitter and for what they have gone through,” Wang wrote.
“The abuse they’ve received is simply not acceptable. It’s not acceptable in the real world, and it’s not acceptable on Twitter.
“There is more we can and will be doing to protect our users against abuse. That is our commitment.”
An online petition calling for Twitter to add a “report abuse” button to tweets has attracted more than 120,000 signatures.
In a message, Wang and Del Harvey, Twitter’s senior director for trust and safety, said: “It comes down to this: People deserve to feel safe on Twitter.”
They said the clarified rules make clear that Twitter will not tolerate abusive behaviour, and an “in-tweet” report button has been added so people can report abusive behaviour directly from a tweet. The Peninsula
