PolitiTweet is dedicated to free and open data.
What is PolitiTweet
PolitiTweet protects the public record by maintaining a persistent archive of public figures' Tweets.
PolitiTweet monitors public (and primarily political) figures online, creating a stable and persistent database that can be referred to for news articles, citations, and other reference. A primary advantage of PolitiTweet is that its database remains intact when, for example, a tweet is deleted. That's why PolitiTweet has deleted Tweets—it's nothing magical.
Note that PolitiTweet stopped archiving new tweets on April 3, 2023, when Twitter disabled our API access. The site will now continue as a public archive. No new figures will be added.
Who Uses PolitiTweet
Journalists, researchers, activists, and concerned citizens all use PolitiTweet to help keep the powerful accountable.
PolitiTweet has been cited by Nightly News with Lester Holt, NBC News, CNN, the Daily Beast, Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Research Lab (republished by Bellingcat), and the New York Daily News, among others.
Suggesting an Account Addition
Is there a public figure whose Twitter account you would like PolitiTweet to track? Wonderful! Send an email to [email protected].
Keep in mind, though, that PolitiTweet cannot track everyone. Not only would it put a significant strain on our servers, it would also be a gross violation of individual privacy—and privacy matters. Instead, we only track public figures. If you're not sure whether the person you are requesting to add is a public figure, a good rule of thumb is to check if that person is either verified on Twitter or has a Wikipedia page. If so, they might belong in PolitiTweet. If not, they probably don't.
Requesting an Account Removal
PolitiTweet only monitors public figures—and we only monitor those public figures' public accounts. In essence, we track those whose Twitter accounts' messaging could have a significant impact to many people. PolitiTweet is not meant to strip individuals of their privacy; instead, it exists simply to secure the public record on Twitter.
If your Twitter account is being archived by PolitiTweet and you would like it to be removed, you may email [email protected]. You will be required to verify that the Twitter account you would like to remove is, in fact, yours.
Understanding Hibernation
The Twitter API does not allow us to view all historical data; unfortunately, we are limited to viewing a particular user's few thousand most recent tweets. When a tweet is marked as 'Hibernated,' it means that PolitiTweet is no longer actively checking to see if the tweet exists or to update its engagement statistics.
Note that hibernated tweets are still visible on Twitter, and PolitiTweet does vouch for their existence and accuracy. Being hibernated just means that the tweet is no longer being actively monitored.
