Good News! Agreement with Twitter Allows Politwoops to Publish Deleted Tweets by Politicians

The Politwoops relaunch discussed below will take place in the coming months! Exciting news to begin the New Year.

From the Open State Foundation:

[On Thursday] Twitter agreed to restore Politwoops access to its API. An agreement has been reached with Twitter that allows Open State Foundation to publish deleted tweets by politicians again via its tool Politwoops. The agreement that will bring back Politwoops online follows several meetings between Twitter and digital transparency organisations Open State Foundation, Sunlight Foundation and digital rights organisation Access Now.

In August 2015, Twitter blocked Politwoops, ran by Open State Foundation, in more than 30 countries that enabled the public to see what legislators and other elected officials, once had tweeted but then decided to delete. Now, an agreement signed by Twitter and Open State Foundation looks to bring back Politwoops.

‘This agreement is great news for those who believe that the world needs more transparency,’ stated Arjan El Fassed, director of digital transparency organisation Open State Foundation that launched Politwoops in more than 30 countries since 2010. ‘Our next step is now to continue and expand our work to enable the public to hold public officials accountable for their public statements’.

Open State Foundation will be able to continue to publish deleted tweets of politicians and public officials via Politwoops and looks to expand Politwoops to other countries around the world. Open State Foundation welcomes the agreement as it demonstrates Twitter’s commitment to freedom of expression and transparency.

This is the result of meetings Open State Foundation, Access Now and Sunlight Foundation had with Twitter during the past two months, following a statement by Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey at the company’s annual developer conference.

Read the Complete Announcement

Additional Coverage
Twitter brings back Politwoops: Site allows tool designed to archive politicians’ tweets to return (via The Independent)

See Also: Boo! “Twitter’s Terrible Decision to Block Politwoops” (June 4, 2015)