Twitter Is Temporarily Placing Abusive Users In Timeout To Curb Online Bullying
Do you kiss your mama with that mouth? Twitter has implemented a new policy where it is temporarily limiting the reach of those who violate its abusive behavior policies. The new protocol comes at a time when Twitter is revising its abusive content policies.
Affected users have been receiving emails stating, “We’ve detected some potentially abusive behavior from your account, so only your followers can see your activity on Twitter for the amount of time shown below”. The typical time limitation appears to be for about twelve hours. If a person tags someone in a tweet who does not follow them, the tagged person will not see the message. Users are not only being banned for using specific naughty words, but for having an “abusive” account in general.
Many people are outraged by Twitter’s latest behavior. Some claim that Twitter is putting a lid on free speech. Others argue that whatever algorithm Twitter is using is taking certain words or phrases out of context.
Twitter's policy toward harassment is that “You may not incite or engage in the targeted abuse or harassment of others.” Hateful conduct is defined as “You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.”
You can read more about the policies here.
Affected users have been receiving emails stating, “We’ve detected some potentially abusive behavior from your account, so only your followers can see your activity on Twitter for the amount of time shown below”. The typical time limitation appears to be for about twelve hours. If a person tags someone in a tweet who does not follow them, the tagged person will not see the message. Users are not only being banned for using specific naughty words, but for having an “abusive” account in general.
Many people are outraged by Twitter’s latest behavior. Some claim that Twitter is putting a lid on free speech. Others argue that whatever algorithm Twitter is using is taking certain words or phrases out of context.
Twitter rolled out a number of anti-abuse policies last week. Users are now able to hide sensitive content in their search. Twitter also started to collapse potentially abusive and “low-quality” replies. Users can still see the responses, however, they will need to select “show less relevant replies”. Twitter claims that it is not “deleting” sensitive material, but simply “hiding” potentially offensive posts. There is also a rumor that “bigger updates” are on the horizon.#PotentiallyAbusive is an excuse today @twitter is trying to limit my voice on their platform lets make sure they don't limit yours tomorrow pic.twitter.com/rcpVKmnlci
— Keith B. Still (@NaYaKnoMi) February 14, 2017
Twitter's policy toward harassment is that “You may not incite or engage in the targeted abuse or harassment of others.” Hateful conduct is defined as “You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.”
You can read more about the policies here.
