Last month, Twitter announced new rules that reinforce its stance against violence and hate speech. They started enforcing those rules this month. Already, several prominent accounts are reported to be affected.
The new rules are stated in an official Twitter blog post that was published last Monday. They made it clear that those "wishing for serious physical harm, death, or disease to an individual or group of people" is in violation of their policies.
Even people who affiliate themselves with groups that promote violence are already in violation, according to Twitter's new terms. Promotion of violence by these groups need not be done on the platform itself. Entities that engage in violence "both on and off the platform" are included in the policy.
However, there are notable exceptions. Military and government entities are excluded from the policy, as well as groups that have engaged or is currently engaging in peaceful negotiations.
The policies do not limit its coverage to just tweets.
In an expansion of their previous terms, Twitter stated that even the user's username, bio, and display picture are subject to the anti-violence and hate speech policies. The website also expressed zero tolerance against slurs, epithets, racism, sexism, and profile details that "incite fear" and reduces anyone to something "less than human."
Some prominent accounts have already been banned from the site because of the new policies. One of the most notable is the account of the leader of "Britain First."
This far-right group based in the United Kingdom once tweeted violent videos. They falsely claimed that the videos show violence inflicted by Muslim immigrants to Europeans. Some may remember United States President Donald Trump retweeting the said videos.
Any offending material will be removed from Twitter. Those caught repeatedly violating the policies will find their accounts permanently suspended.
