Twitter will no longer allow sharing of private media without individual consent. The social media platform said it was expanding its privacy policy to give people more choices on private media shared online.
“Beginning today, we will not allow the sharing of private media, such as images or videos of private individuals without their consent.” The company said on its Twitter safety account.
“Publishing people’s private info is also prohibited under the policy, as is threatening or incentivizing others to do so.”
Read: Twitter Direct Messages Get New Updates
The company explained that the ban would help to curb harassment of individuals on the platform especially women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities who are affected the most.
“The policy update will help curb the misuse of media to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of private individuals,” the company wrote.
Twitter said that context would apply in that application of the policy, seeing that lots of media is shared online. For instance, images showing people participating in public events such as sporting or protesting will not be considered to be in violation.
Read: Twitter Users to Get Detailed Information for Rejected Verification Requests
Images that are also publicly available and are being used by journalists to cover their stories will also not be in violation. These may include celebrities, politicians and events that are out in the public.
If the tweet following an image also adds value to the public discourse, the image will also not be considered to be in violation of the policy. This may include cases where some users are reported missing and their private images can be shared to help find them
Twitter says it will require individuals to make a first-person or authorised representative report of the violation of the policy. This means that the subject or person appearing in the image will be required to make the report. In other cases, the individual’s lawyers may take up the case.
Thereafter, the platform will review the media in question before action is taken.
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