Twitter blocks access to politician’s deleted tweets

The Politwoops website that saved politicians' deleted tweets today said its operations had been shut in the 30 countries where it was active following Twitter blocking its access to its site.

"On Friday night, August 21, the Open State Foundation was informed by Twitter that it suspended... access to Diplotwoops and all remaining Politwoops sites in 30 countries," according to the Open Foundation, which started Politwoops in the Netherlands in 2010.

Twitter pulled the plug on Politwoops in the US in May and the Open Foundation expressed concerns it might happen elsewhere.

Twitter blocked the US website's access to its API (application programme interface) which allowed it check when a politician deleted a tweet, often an indicator they had changed their mind or realised a mistake.

Since it was established in so-called hackathon five years ago, the website had been a useful tool for journalists and a frequent source of embarrassment to politicians as it spread to 30 countries from Egypt to the Vatican, as also the European Parliament.

Politwoops started operations in the US in 2012 thanks to the Sunlight Foundation, that fights for transparency in politics.

Politwoops run by the Open State Foundation monitored politicians' Twitter profiles and looked out for tweets that had been posted and then deleted.

Politwoops then posted any updates that were deleted and collected them in the name of transparency.

But Twitter had now shut off the access that allowed Politwoops to work, arguing that Twitter users should be able to delete their updates whenever they want.

Twitter said, the decision had been taken after ''thoughtful internal deliberation and close consideration of a number of factors'', according to the Open State Foundation.

''Imagine how nerve-racking – terrifying, even – tweeting would be if it was immutable and irrevocable?'' Twitter asked, according to the group.

''No one user is more deserving of that ability than another. Indeed, deleting a tweet is an expression of the user's voice.''