Twitter and the jus ad bellum: threats of force and other implications

Abstract

A recent report noted that ninety-seven per cent of UN member states currently have an official Twitter presence. The report also highlighted the proliferation of Twitter accounts of Heads of State, including those that blur the ‘state’ and ‘personal’ divide. For example, the number of followers of the handle @realDonaldTrump has more than doubled in size since the US President took office in January 2017, while the number of people following the French President’s Twitter account, @EmmanuelMacron, has tripled since his election in May 2017. This editorial provides some initial thoughts on the implications of this increased use of Twitter by states (and, in particular, Heads of State) for the jus ad bellum. Its main focus, in section 1, which takes up the bulk of the editorial, is on the question of whether a tweet by a Head of State could constitute a violation of the prohibition of the threat of force in Article 2(4) of the United Nations (UN) Charter. In addition, though, section 2 briefly considers other possible ad bellum implications of the rise of Twitter as a means of state-level communication.