Twitter revises policy banning threats and abuse

That sounded like a good thing, but when I pulled up Twitter’s new rules, they looked a very bad lot like Twitter’s old rules.

The updated rules do not seem to deliver any kind of major changes as opposed to its earlier policy, although it seems to have gotten more wordy, so to speak, by throwing in additional specifics on the kind of actions which could result in suspended accounts.

Twitter’s new policy gives the social network a more explicit ability to suspend or shut down accounts of people who engage in “hateful conduct” or whose “primary objective is inciting harm towards others”.

Twitter has been criticised for not doing enough to tackle online abuse, and in February, then-chief executive Dick Costolo admitted the company “sucks” at dealing with trolling. The Times reported last week that the Home Secretary Theresa May had suggested that the new surveillance powers – unveiled under the Investigatory Powers Bill – could be used to help police to unmask anonymous cyberbullies.

Comparing the new rules to a cached version from yesterday, Twitter has created a new section just for abusive behavior, whereas previously that was lumped into an “Abuse and Spam” section.

Welcoming the refined and defined “hateful conduct” and behavior rules, J.M.Berger, the author who identified almost 46,000 Twitter accounts as those of ISIS, stated the new rules are clearly defined. It is revisiting its rules to make it clear what it deems to be abusive behavior and banned content.

The war Twitter is supposedly waging on trolls has been historically one-sided, no matter assurances that they “embrace and encourage diverse opinions and beliefs”. To avoid this, the company already brought tools that let users block, mute and even report abusive or hatred speeches.

Speaking to The Independent ahead of Twitter’s 10th birthday, Mr Daisley said more effort had been put into user safety than any other issue. A user’s account will be locked out altogether if he or she refuses to comply. The measures the company claims it will take include “reaching out” to the person in question to express its concern and “the concern of other users”, or “providing resources such as contact information for our mental health partners”. These changes place increased focus on barring posts that have an intent to hurt or silence other users.