Twitter is not placing an automated censorship system in place, but rather will only comply with what it sees are valid requests. http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2012/01/27/twitter-isnt-censor...
I'm beginning(?) to believe that the politicians that are making these decisions don't know in detail, didn't ask the experts, of what they are doing.
No, not at all. I'm just saying that this sucks for Twitter. The problem here is that we have global services and not global free speech. As a result, Twitter has to deal with all these governments, everything from their cultural hang-ups to straight-up oppression. And, given global economic deals, governments like the US won't always have their back. The US should stand up for Twitter. But, they will only do it when it serves their political interests. That's the problem that Twitter is stuck with.
But that protection doesn't extend to Germany. Germany can regulate Twitter in its borders. If you are doing business in the EU, you play by their rules, maybe the US could go to bat for you. But, I surely don't see that happening in that scenario. If Germany levied a fine, the EU would likely back them up. The US isn't going to have Twitter's back.