(CNN Business) - Twitter is incorporating new tags to better identify accounts belonging to government officials and high-level staff of state-backed media, the social media platform announced Thursday.
Key government officials such as foreign ministers, ambassadors and official spokespersons will be labeled, as will accounts belonging to "state-affiliated" media entities, their editors-in-chief and senior staff, Twitter said.
The tag will appear as part of the accounts bio and will also be attached to the Twitter username on the site. The accounts of government officials will show an image of the flag and the label "Government account", while the media accounts will show a podium with a microphone and a label that says "state-affiliated media".
The personal accounts of the heads of state will not receive the label, Twitter said, because "these accounts enjoy broad name recognition, media attention and public awareness." But the corresponding "institutional accounts" that remain with whoever is elected will be labeled.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to CNN Business that President Donald Trump's personal account, @realDonaldTrump, will not receive the label, but the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse accounts do.
For starters, the labels will only apply to the accounts of the countries represented in the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Twitter said they will eventually expand to a broader range of countries.
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"We believe this is an important step so that when people view an account that discusses geopolitical issues in another country, they have context about their national affiliation and are better informed about who they represent," Twitter said in the announcement.
Senior staff of state-affiliated media, which Twitter defines as "media where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressure and / or control over production and distribution," will also receive a label. Media officials like the BBC in the UK will not be tagged, as Twitter in this case regards it as a state-funded media but with editorial independence.
Twitter also said that "it will no longer amplify the accounts of state-affiliated media or its tweets" through its recommendation and search systems.
New Twitter feature to prevent misinformation 0:33The tags are part of Twitter's efforts to crack down on state-backed accounts. Last year it stopped running ads for state media accounts and banned all political ads globally.