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Twitter: Trump Tweet To N. Korea Wasn't Removed Due To 'Newsworthiness'

September 26, 2017 / 8:43 AM PDT / CBS San Francisco

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Twitter cited President Donald Trump's "newsworthiness" and the public interest as reasons why it declined to remove a tweet that added to the fiery rhetoric between the United States and North Korea.

Trump tweeted Saturday : "Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!" On Monday, North Korea's top diplomat called the tweet a declaration of war. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded by calling the suggestion of such a declaration "absurd."

• ALSO READ: California Officials Urged To Take North Korea Nuclear Threat Seriously

Twitter's rules state users "may not make threats of violence or promote violence, including threatening or promoting terrorism."

The company responded to questions about why Trump's tweet wasn't removed Monday by posting in a series of messages on its public policy account that "newsworthiness" is one of the factors it considers in determining if a tweet breaks the platform's rules.

THREAD: Some of you have been asking why we haven't taken down the Tweet mentioned here: https://t.co/CecwG0qHmq 1/6
— Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) September 25, 2017

We hold all accounts to the same Rules, and consider a number of factors when assessing whether Tweets violate our Rules 2/6
— Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) September 25, 2017

Among the considerations is "newsworthiness" and whether a Tweet is of public interest 3/6
— Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) September 25, 2017

This has long been internal policy and we'll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it. We need to do better on this, and will 4/6
— Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) September 25, 2017

Twitter is committed to transparency and keeping people informed about what's happening in the world 5/6
— Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) September 25, 2017

We'll continue to be guided by these fundamental principles 6/6
— Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) September 25, 2017

"This has long been internal policy and we'll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it," one message read. "We need to do better on this, and will."

The company also stated it's "committed to transparency and keeping people informed about what's happening in the world."

Calls on the company to curtail Trump's use of the platform are not new . The company has said in the past that it doesn't comment on individual accounts, but it has cited the importance of hearing from leadership in order to hold people accountable.

Trump's account wasn't affected in July, when Twitter announced that it was taking action, including suspensions, on 10 times the number of abusive accounts than it did a year before.