Donald Trump tweets could soon be restricted after Twitter announced it would slap warning labels on posts by politicians it deems violate the rules.

The new policy, announced by the company on Thursday, will affect world leaders and other political figures who use the platform to threaten or abuse others.

It comes amid accusations Twitter has unfairly allowed the US president to tweet hateful messages other users would be censured for, and which critics say could lead to violence.

From now on, a tweet that Twitter deems to involve matters of public interest, but which violates the service's rules, will be obscured by a warning explaining the violation.

Users will have to tap through the warning to see the underlying message, but the tweet will not be removed, as Twitter might do with a regular person's posts.

11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Show all 11 1 /11 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Turn on Night Mode Twitter’s dark blue Night Mode is a lot easier on your eyes than its regular, vibrant theme. On the site, you can enable it by clicking your profile photo (on the right-hand side of the bar at the top of the screen) and selecting Night Mode. On Android and iOS, you need to tap your profile picture at the top of the screen and select Night Mode. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Lengthen your tweets A “small group” of users are no longer restricted by Twitter’s 140-character tweet limit. Even if you’re not a chosen one, you can double your limit to 280 characters on desktop by downloading the Tampermonkey plugin, going to https://gist.github.com/Prof9/c16fc4997e0ef5b22a15c43edd7f5f49, clicking Raw and then Install. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Improve search Twitter’s regular search tool can be a little messy, but Advanced Search makes it much easier for you to find specific things. Go to https://twitter.com/search-advanced and filter your search by word, hashtag, exact phrase, location, date and account. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Disable read receipts Like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, Twitter’s direct messaging service shows you when your messages have been seen by the person you sent them to. You can disable read receipts though. On Android, iOS and the site, go to Settings and Privacy, click on Privacy and Safety and disable read receipts. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Monitor your tweets Retweets and Likes only form part of the story, as far as tweet engagement is concerned. You can view a lot more information about how people have reacted to your updates, including the number of times they’ve been seen and the number of times people have interacted with them. Just open your tweets and hit the View Tweet Activity button. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Trim the fat If you feel like you’re drowning in push notifications, you can cut down the number you receive from Twitter by going to Settings, Notifications, Push Notifications and deselecting the types of notifications you wouldn’t like to receive. You can also enable sleep settings, which allow you to switch off all mobile updates during certain hours of the day. On the site, go to Settings, Mobile and select your hours. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Save data You can stop videos from playing automatically on desktop and the Twitter app. On the site, you can do this by going to Settings, Account, Video Tweets and unchecking Video Autoplay. On both the Android and iOS versions of the app, go to Settings, General, Data Usage, Video Autoplay, and choose between Mobile data & Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Only, and Never. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Save even more data You can save even more data and completely transform your timeline in the process by disabling images. Just go to Settings, Data Usage and uncheck the Image Previews box. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Customise your profile Editing your Twitter profile is really straightforward, just go to your profile and click the large Edit Profile button. However, there’s one customisation option that’s easy to miss. As well as your name, bio and profile photos, you can change your colour scheme. The option is only available on the Twitter site, and is sandwiched between the Website and Birthday sections. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Browse properly One of the Twitter app’s most annoying features is its in-app browser, which links automatically open up in. You can sacrifice it for your favourite mobile browser by going to Settings, Display and Sound and unchecking the Use In-App Browser box. 11 useful Twitter features you might not know about Subscribe to tweets You can set up alerts that let you know whenever a certain account tweets, but it’s a two-stage process. First, on the app, go to Settings, Notifications, Push Notifications, Tweets and turn the toggle button on. Then open the profile page of the account you want to receive notifications from, tap the Bell icon next to the Following button and choose between All Tweets, Only Live Video and Off.

Mr Trump, who has tweeted more than 42,000 times since he joined the platform 10 years ago, will likely view any restrictions as an escalation of what he wrongly claims is censorship on social media of conservative voices. There is no evidence to support the conspiracy theory.

Twitter said the policy applies to all government officials, candidates and similar public figures with more than 100,000 followers. In addition to applying the label, Twitter will not use its algorithms to "elevate" or otherwise promote such tweets.

"It's a step in the right direction," said Keegan Hankes, research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, who focuses on far-right extremist propaganda online.

But, he added, Twitter is essentially arguing "that hate speech can be in the public interest. I am arguing that hate speech is never in the public interest".

Twitter refused to comment on whether any of Mr Trump's past tweets violated its rules and would not say what role, if any, his Twitter activity played in the creation of the new warning-label policy.

Twitter's rules prohibit threatening violence against a person or group, engaging in "targeted harassment of someone", or inciting others to do so, such as wishing a person is harmed. It also bans hate speech against a group based on race, ethnicity, gender or other categories.

Up to now, the company has exempted prominent leaders from many of those rules, contending that publishing controversial tweets from politicians helps hold them accountable and encourages discussion.

But there have been longstanding calls to remove Mr Trump from the service over what some have called abusive and threatening behaviour.

Some activists complained this week after the president threatened Iran with "obliteration" in some areas if it attacks the US. Mr Trump has also tweeted a video of himself beating up a man with a CNN logo in place of his head and retweeted seemingly faked anti-Muslim videos.

"Donald Trump has changed political discourse on Twitter and everywhere else, given the level of toxic statements he has made about vulnerable communities in America," Mr Hankes said.

Other politicians could likewise become subject to warning labels.

Frankie Boyle encourages people on Twitter to protest against President Donald Trump

In 2018, French prosecutors filed preliminary charges against far-right French politician Marine Le Pen for tweeting brutal images of Isis violence. Twitter prohibits material that is "excessively gory".

And in March, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro stirred outrage by sharing a video on Twitter of a man urinating on the head of another man during a Carnival party.

Insults and mockery fall into a grey area. Calling someone a "lowlife, a "dog" or a "stone cold LOSER", as Mr Trump has done, may not in itself be a violation. But repeated insults against someone might amount to prohibited harassment.

Jennifer Grygiel, a social media expert and professor at Syracuse University, said Twitter "obviously" enacted the new policy because of Mr Trump's Twitter activity.

But Ms Grygiel said the new rule failed to go far enough. Because of the president's outsize ability to start wars, move stock markets or influence other world events, Twitter should instead review leaders' tweets before they are sent out and block them if necessary, Ms Grygiel said.

Twitter's new policy does not apply to past tweets.

Twitter said it is still possible for a government official or other figure to tweet something so egregious that it warrants removal. A direct threat of violence against an individual, for instance, would qualify.

The company said warning-label decisions will be made by a group that includes members of its trust and safety, legal and public policy teams, as well as employees in the regions where particular tweets originate.