Twitter in review 2012: The good, the bad, and the very ugly
Summary: A look back at some of the successes and victories, the bad times and controversies, and the downright ugly failures by Twitter and by its users, during 2012.
Image 12 of 19
Tweets censored by country; reiterates "the tweets must still flow."
The bad: The microblogging service announced at the start of the year that it would begin to limit tweets by country, in spite of its "the tweets must flow" mantra, in a bid to avoid legal action.
For instance, during the 2011 super-injunctions controversy, many who had taken out privacy injunctions were named on Twitter despite breaking a court order that prevented the entire U.K. population from disclosing information that they weren't privy to in the first place. Also, in some regions of the world, certain content is barred from publication -- such as Nazi content in Germany.
Ironically, it turned out that many European countries -- not the Middle Eastern or North African countries, often seen as oppressive or lacking freedom of speech laws -- that took advantage of the new censor-by-country service, including Germany and France. But many said they would boycott the service in protest of the move by the service.
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback