Photo: The Canadian Press

Photo shows the Twitter app on a mobile phone in Philadelphia.

Twitter says it is launching an experiment in Canada today that will allow users in this country to hide replies to tweets on the social-media platform.

The timing comes as social media platforms like Twitter have faced increasing government pressure to police their services better, particularly ahead of this fall's federal election.

Users outside Canada will be able to see the feature and its use, but won't be able to use it themselves.

The platform will indicate on a tweet any time a user decides to hide replies and will allow users to see what's been hidden as a way to dissuade brands or politicians from overusing the feature.

The company chose to test the new option in Canada before rolling it out elsewhere.

Twitter isn't putting a timeline on when the experiment will end, but is keeping an eye on the timeline to the campaign's kickoff.