There's a newsworthiness exemption in Twitter's rules. It allows tweets from world leaders and tweets it deems notable enough to stay on the platform when they'd be removed in other circumstances. The label that's being mooted would help make it clear why such tweets are still visible. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to Engadget the company is looking at ways to offer more context around newsworthy tweets that break the rules.

There's no "blanket exception" for anyone, however, and Gadde affirmed that Twitter will still take down tweets that cross a line. "An example would be a direct violent threat against an individual that we wouldn't leave on the platform because of the danger it poses to that individual," she said. Gadde also noted Twitter may limit the visibility of "dehumanizing" tweets -- such content may still be available, though you might have to click through a warning label to see it.

Twitter has tested several features in recent months to improve context on the platform. It trialed a label to denote the person who posted the first tweet in a thread, for instance. It's also testing ways to subscribe to conversations (so you can follow them without directly engaging with likes or replies) and nested, color-coded threads.