Twitter says the move will help prevent harassment. Source: News Innings
Twitter says the move will help prevent harassment. Source: News Innings

Twitter is introducing a new update to its terms and conditions that will allow private individuals to request takedowns of pictures or videos of them posted on the platform without their consent. This is an extension of its existing ban that prevents the sharing of private information through the social media platform. Twitter says the move will help prevent harassment and enhance the privacy of users in its community. 

Nonetheless, the company says that an exception will be applied to posts that are “shared in the public interest or those that add value to public discourse.” In a safety blog published by the company, Twitter noted with concern that the “sharing of personal media, including things like video and images” could potentially have negative effects on a person’s mental and physical health. 

The company adds that, while the sharing of private media can affect any person, in most cases, women, dissidents, activists, and members of minority communities are disproportionately affected. Users who feel they need pictures and videos of themselves taken down will need to send a formal request to Twitter. The social media company will then evaluate each request on a case-by-case basis before a decision is made.

Twitter will also not act on media that is already being shared by major news outlets. Source: Tech Briefly
Twitter will also not act on media that is already being shared by major news outlets. Source: Tech Briefly

Nonetheless, Twitter made it clear that this rule does not apply to people who fall under the category of public figures. In essence, politicians, celebrities, and well-known people won’t have the chance to have their images and videos taken down. 

Twitter will also not act on media that is already being shared by major news outlets. In a nutshell, the company is hoping that the newly updated terms are designed to remove media that fuels harassment campaigns online. It is however likely that the company will face a lot of nuanced situations. 

For example, how does it determine that the sharing of a given piece of media is for the public good? What criteria will be used to come to that conclusion? Although the blog post announcing this new update had a lot of details about what it intends to achieve, Twitter did not give us a lot of information as to how it intends to implement this. It is emerging that the decision on whether to take down a media will be entirely left to moderators.

Twitter says that moderators will weigh heavily the circumstances of each post. Source: Gizmodo
Twitter says that moderators will weigh heavily the circumstances of each post. Source: Gizmodo

Also, we have seen cases where videos or photos have gone viral on Twitter before they are picked up by mainstream media. How will Twitter deal with such a situation? After all, most of these viral videos tend to feature average private citizens. But the fact that the media is picked up by mainstream outlets means that they cannot be taken down, at least according to the terms of this new update. 

This could pose a huge contradiction of the rules, something that will make it harder to implement the new update more fairly. Nonetheless, Twitter says that moderators will weigh heavily the circumstances of each post and consider all possible angles before they act. This could suggest that indeed it may take longer for some posts to be taken down than others.