Donald Trump's retweets of extremists will stay on his profile, Twitter has said.

The controversial Britain First tweets will remain visible for everyone to see on the President's profile because they allow users to "see every side of an issue". The site recognised that the tweets were controversial and suggested they would otherwise violate its rules, but said that the posts would remain "because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in [their] availability".

Twitter has repeatedly made reference to the newsworthiness of Mr Trump's tweets as the reason they stay up when they would otherwise likely result in either the post or his whole account being removed.

Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Britain First: the far-right group in pictures A demonstrator with 'Bring back the rope!' sign during a Britain First Rotherham demonstration in 2015 Rex Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen lead a Britain First demonstration in Rochdale on 22 July, 2017 Rex Britain First: the far-right group in pictures In 2016 they staged a small counter demo at Eros. UN Anti Racism, Refugees Welcome march and rally through central London. Rex Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Here a supporter kisses a badge reading " Speak English or Fuck off " on the jacket of a man at a Britain First demonstration in Telford on 25 February, 2017 Rex Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Britain First lead a demonstration in Dudley with a sign reading 'Britain First. No more Mosques!' in 2015 Alamy Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, the leader and deputy leader of far-right group Britain First were charged with causing religiously aggravated harassment in 2016 PA Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Following the Westminster terror attack on parliament in March 2017, Britain First and EDL protesters marched through central London. AFP/Getty Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Many of the protesters reacted along the route during the Britain First and EDL demonstration held on 1 April, 2017 PA Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Members of the Britain First group and the English Defence League rallied in central London in on seperate marches entitled a "March Against Terrorism" and "We Are Not Afriad" following the terror attack on Westminster Bridge and the British Parliament AFP/Getty Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Paul Golding reacts whilst he leads the protest PA Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Britain First and EDL protesters both marched on the same day PA Britain First: the far-right group in pictures One protester during the march held a sign reading 'Political correctness + migration = chaos' on 1 April, 2017 PA Britain First: the far-right group in pictures Protesters held placards during the protest calling for Britain First leader, Paul Golding, to be mayor Getty Britain First: the far-right group in pictures At a Birmingham Britain First protest in June 2017, supporters had to be contained by police, where an estimated 250 supporters of the party were escorted. PA Britain First: the far-right group in pictures 'Britain First' held a rally in November in support of their leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, who had to sign in at Bromley Police Station as part of their bail conditions. Rex

And it has made that point once again, after the President retweeted posts from Jayda Fransen, from the far-right extremist group Britain First. Those tweets included one that claimed to show a boy being killed, and the moment of his death – something that would usually be inexcusable on the site.

As well as igniting an unprecedented international row, the tweets appear to be very much in breach of Twitter's terms of service. The rules that every user signs up to include restrictions on using the site to target specific racial and religious groups, and against showing gratuitous violence.

But the site has confirmed that it will be keeping those tweets around because there is public interest in them.

"As appropriate, we take action against content that violates our terms of service, including hiding some content behind sensitive media filters," a Twitter spokesperson said.

"As our Help Center notes: "To help ensure people have an opportunity to see every side of an issue, there may be the rare occasion when we allow controversial content or behavior which may otherwise violate our Rules to remain on our service because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in its availability. Each situation is evaluated on a case by case basis and ultimately decided upon by a cross-functional team."