In order to ensure that abuse, harassment and hateful conduct have no place on its service, Twitter has once again expanded its hateful conduct policy to prohibit language that dehumanizes people on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin.
In March 2020, Twitter had expanded the rule to include language that dehumanizes on the basis of age, disability, or disease. The micro-blogging website announced that the tweets showcasing hateful conduct need to be removed from Twitter once they are reported. Moreover, proactive detection and automation helps Twitter identify violative content. Twitter temporarily locks or suspends the account if the latter doesn’t adhere to the Twitter Rules.
According to an official blog post, “The Twitter Rules help set expectations for everyone on the service and are updated to keep up with evolving online behaviors, speech, and experiences we observe. In addition to applying our iterative and research-driven approach to the expansion of the Twitter Rules, we’ve reviewed and incorporated public feedback to ensure we consider a wide range of perspectives.”
Additionally, Twitter sought to expand its understanding of cultural nuances and ensure that it is able to enforce the rules with each update to this policy. The following feedback has been received from various communities and cultures who use Twitter around the globe:
- Clearer language
Across languages, people believed the proposed change could be improved by providing more details, examples of violations, and explanations for when and how context is considered. Twitter incorporated this feedback when refining this rule, and also ensure that it provided additional detail and clarity across all its rules.
- Narrow down what’s considered
Respondents said that “identifiable groups” was too broad, and they should be allowed to engage with political groups, hate groups, and other non-marginalized groups with this type of language. Many people wanted to “call out hate groups in any way, any time, without fear.” In other instances, people wanted to be able to refer to fans, friends, and followers in endearing terms, such as “kittens” and “monsters.”
- Consistent enforcement
Many people raised concerns about Twitter’s ability to enforce its rules fairly and consistently, so it developed a longer, more in-depth training process with its teams to ensure they were better prepared when reviewing report. That said, even with these improvements, Twitter recognize it will still make mistakes. The microblogging site is committed to continuing to work to further strengthen both its enforcement process and its appeals process to correct the mistakes and prevent similar ones moving forward.
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