Russia eyes Twitter rules for officials

MOSCOW, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said rules are needed to govern use of Twitter and other social networking sites by government officials.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday there should be clear rules for use of the websites by Russian officials after media outlets quoted government sources as saying officials could be banned from Twitter if they do not maintain politeness on the website, RIA Novosti reported.

Peskov did not confirm or deny the reports of a threatened ban.

"It's evident that the use of Twitter for official purposes and for disseminating official information should be streamlined one way or another. Anyway, an official who uses Twitter should not think of it as a personal information channel, because any information becomes more or less official when it appears in the Twitter account of a person vested with power," the spokesman said.