New Delhi (PTI): Social media platform Twitter will allow freedom of speech but not "freedom of reach" as it will restrict visibility of tweets that violate its rules, the company said in its policy update.

Twitter will initially apply the visibility filter on tweets that are found violating hateful conduct rules and expand it to other domains later.

The social media firm said that Twitter users have the right to express their opinions and ideas without fear of censorship.

"We also believe it is our responsibility to keep users on our platform safe from content violating our rules. These beliefs are the foundation of freedom of speech, not freedom of reach -- our enforcement philosophy which means, where appropriate, restricting the reach of tweets that violate our policies by making the content less discoverable," the firm said.

The sample screenshot shared an example of visibility restriction of tweets that may violate Twitter's rule against hateful conduct.

"Restricting the reach of tweets, also known as visibility filtering, is one of our existing enforcement actions that allows us to move beyond the binary 'leave up versus take down' approach to content moderation. However, like other social platforms, we have not historically been transparent when we've taken this action," it said.

The social media firm said that it will not place ads adjacent to content that is labelled under the new rule.

"Starting soon, we will add publicly visible labels to tweets identified as potentially violating our policies letting you know we've limited their visibility," the microblogging platform said.

Twitter said that authors will be able to submit feedback on the label, if they think "we incorrectly limited their tweet's visibility.

"Currently, submitting feedback does not guarantee you will receive a response or that your tweet's reach will be restored. We are working on allowing authors to appeal our decision," it said.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Visakhapatnam (PTI): India fought back gallantly through Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav after Quinton de Kock struck his 23rd hundred, keeping South Africa to a manageable 270 in the third and series-deciding final ODI, here Saturday.

India won the toss after judging the spin of the coin incorrectly 20 times in a row. They had little hesitation in inserting the Proteas into bat, a clear indication of dew factor dominating the thought.

After Arshdeep Singh sent back Ryan Rickelton early, De Kock (106, 89b, 8x4, 6x4) struck his seventh century against India and put on 113 runs off 124 balls with skipper Temba Bavuma (48, 67b) as the visitors moved to a healthy position.

De Kock was severe on Prasidh (4/66), who erred on length continuously in his first spell (2-0-27-0). The left-hander biffed the pacer for 6, 6, 4 in his second over to milk 18 runs.

The 32-year-old quickly pounced on anything that was short, and pacers Prasidh and Harshit offered him plenty of feed on his pet areas.

Bavuma was more sedate, and made runs through those typical dabs and jabs, occasionally unfurling a drive of elan.

De Kock moved to fifty in 42 balls, and never let the tempo down reaching his hundred in 79 balls.

India found temporary relief when Ravindra Jadeja induced a false slash from Bavuma to get caught by Virat Kohli at point.

The tourists got another move on through a 54-run partnership between De Kock and Matthew Breetzkle for the third wicket, and at 168 for two in 28 overs they were in a good position to press on.

But Breetzke's punishment of part-time spinner Tilak Varma forced a rethink in the Indian camp, as skipper KL Rahul brought back Prasidh for a second spell.

What a masterstroke it turned out to be! The Karnataka man broke the back of South Africa’s top and middle order in an exceptional second spell (4-0-11-3).

Breetzke was the first man to go, trapped plumb in front with a straight one and four balls later Aiden Markram uppishly chipped a fuller delivery to Kohli at short covers.

Prasidh soon castled De Kock, whose ugly cross-batted swipe failed to connect a full length delivery from the pacer.

All of a sudden, SA found themselves at a shaky 199 for five, losing three wickets in the space of three overs.

Once Prasidh was done away with the top and middle-order, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (4/41) took over and mopped up the tail as SA fell short of even a par total on this track.