The Rise of Twiplomacy and the Making of Customary International Law on Social Media

Abstract

Social media usage by States has increased exponentially in recent years. This phenomenon, known as "twiplomacy", has become ubiquitous. Given that almost every State in the world now issues statements via social media, this article examines the potential for Twitter posts to form part of the "raw material"for the formation of customary international law. In other words, it considers whether customary international law can be "made", or evidence of it identified, on social media. Public statements can, in the right contexts, act as State practice or as evidence of opinio juris, and a Twitter post from a State account ultimately is a public statement like any other. Based on an original scoping study, it is argued that there is evidence of statements being posted on Twitter that, were they issued in a more traditional context, would be seen as having the potential to constitute State practice or evidence of opinio juris. The study also suggests that such examples are not yet common, but it is predicted that they will become so. Therefore, this article goes on to examine a number of possible implications of twiplomacy for the identification of customary international law that must be considered, should social media indeed emerge as a notable breeding ground for new rules of custom. These implications include the blurring between the "personal"and the "official"; the brevity and (lack of) clarity and rigour of tweets; the significant increase in the amount of relevant data but also its comparative "centralisation"(with potentially positive as well as negative consequences); and concerns regarding authenticity. It ultimately is concluded that twiplomacy will not change the requirements for the formation of customary international law, but it is likely to have significant implications for how lawyers and researchers go about the practical process of identifying it.