Twitter Inc said on Thursday it would identify and deemphasize tweets that broke its rules but came from important sources, such as politicians, in order to strike a balance between free expression and accountability.

The new feature comes as Twitter has been under scrutiny over political bias over the tweets that appear on its feed.

US President Donald Trump, an avid Twitter user with more than 61 million followers, and other conservatives have repeatedly accused technology companies of being biased against them and of favoring liberals.

Twitter on Thursday said the new rules would apply to politicians and government officials with more than 100,000 followers.

"There are certain cases where it may be in the public's interest to have access to certain Tweets, even if they would otherwise be in violation of our rules," Twitter said in a blog post.

In the past, Twitter had allowed such tweets to remain on its feed as they were in public interest, the company said.

Now, it added, "We'll place a notice – a screen you have to click or tap through before you see the Tweet – to provide additional context and clarity."

The notice will appear in the home timeline and across other areas such as search, Twitter said.

First Published:Jun 27, 2019 10:09 PM IST