The rise of twiplomacy and the making of customary international law on social media

Green, James

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a huge rise in ‘twiplomacy’: that is, the use of social media as a means of direct diplomatic communication by states. Social media posts from the accounts of governments, government departments and individual high ranking government officials (both through ‘individual’ institutional accounts and ‘personal’ accounts) are now ubiquitous. Twitter hosts the highest number of these ‘state’ accounts: 98% of UN members now have an official presence on Twitter, with most having numerous such accounts (a recent study identified 1089 active Twitter accounts at what might broadly be considered the ‘diplomatic level’).
While much work is already being done on the twiplomacy phenomenon in international relations and behavioural science scholarship, relatively little consideration has yet occurred from the perspective of international law. This paper examines one such issue. This is whether social media posts ‘by states’ can contribute, directly and in themselves, to the creation or alteration of customary international law.
It will be argued that there is nothing inherently unique about a post on social media that would mean it should be discounted, in principle, as being a potential ‘building block’ for customary international law formation. That conclusion raises several questions, however, such as whose tweets (and from which account(s)) may be relevant; authenticity and account hacking fears; and the ‘throwaway’ nature of tweets themselves. As the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stated in IRAP v Trump (2018): ‘…[tweets] are often short-hand for larger ideas ... And they are often susceptible to multiple interpretations, depending on the outlook of the recipient.’ What may such factors mean for the way in which customary international law might be made? Moreover, is custom already being made on Twitter?

• Presentation Conference Type: Keynote
• Conference Name: Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference
• Start Date: Sep 2, 2021
• End Date: Sep 2, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 2, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 2, 2023
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10492363
• Related Public URLs: https://www.legalscholars.ac.uk/
• Additional Information: Keynote presentation to the International Law Section