Despite what many thought wouldn’t happen when Elon Musk acquired the social media platform, Twitter announced it was launching a new policy aimed at stopping violent speech.
The announcement of the “Violent Speech Policy” came on Tuesday as the company shared it was taking action because the app is a place for people to express themselves, not a place to deliver violence.
The policy will now restrict users from using speech to “threaten, incite, glorify or express desire for violence or harm.” The new rules even have a “zero tolerance” policy for cases deemed to be “severe.”
Other prohibited actions include encouraging others to conduct harm or celebrating acts of violence. Threats “to damage civilian homes and shelters, or infrastructure that is essential to daily, civic, or business activities” are also prohibited.
“Twitter is a place where people can express themselves, learn about what’s happening, and debate global issues. However, healthy conversations can’t thrive when violent speech is used to deliver a message. As a result, we have a zero-tolerance policy towards violent speech in order to ensure the safety of our users and prevent the normalization of violent actions,” the new policy reads.
Those who violate the new policy will see their accounts permanently suspended. However, the policy did note that cases seen as “less severe” will only be temporarily suspended. What classifies a case as “less severe” was not shared in the policy.
This is not the first time the social media platform has made an update to its hateful speech policy. Several changes came under the old regime, but this is the latest to come under Musk, a self-described “free-speech absolutist.”
It is important to note that Twitter will still allow “expressions of violent speech when there is no clear abusive or violent context.” The company shared that this includes posts about sporting events or video games.
On top of that, the company will still allow for “hyperbolic and consensual speech between friends,” as well as “certain cases of figures of speech, satire, or artistic expression,” as long as the viewpoint being expressed isn’t promoting violence.
For those worried, Twitter says it is taking steps to ensure it knows the context before handing out penalties on users.
“We make sure to evaluate and understand the context behind the conversation before taking action,” the company said.
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