Twitter to Apply Labels to Accounts of Heads of State from G7 Countries

Last year, Twitter added account labels to the accounts of key government officials and accounts belonging to state-affiliated media entities, and now, it has announced that it is expanding these labels to more state-affiliated accounts.

Starting Wednesday, February 17, Twitter will expand these labels to accounts from Group of Seven (G7) countries, and to a majority of countries that Twitter has attributed state-linked information operations to. Twitter will also apply labels to the personal accounts of heads of state for these countries.

Below is the full phased plan:

Phase 1 Countries (August 2020)

• China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, and United States

Phase 2 Countries (February 17, 2021)

• Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates

Labels will be added to verified personal accounts of heads of state, as well as to accounts of key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders.