Leaked Twitter email details bigger plan to tackle abusive users

Twitter has once again vowed to deal with its problematic users, and once again users are skeptical. The company's CEO Jack Dorsey recently tweeted about this topic, talking about the company's efforts to deal with the issue over the last couple of years. More revealing, though, is a leaked Twitter email which goes into more details about how the company will be enforcing its rules.

Twitter has a problem with bullies and other problematic users who utilize Twitter has a platform to harass, threaten, and other abusive things. Though the company has taken steps to deal with these individuals, efforts thus far haven't been adequate and the site remains full of problematic users. Compounding the problem is Twitter's seemingly unpredictable enforcement of the rules.

The email's text was acquired by Wired, which published the full message. In it, we see Twitter's Head of Safety Policy reportedly addressing the company's Trust & Safety Council members. "I'd like to follow up on Jack's Friday night Tweetstorm about upcoming policy and enforcement changes," the message starts, explaining that some of the new changes are the result of internal talks over the last week. The message also says that the changes will be arriving "in the weeks ahead."

In the email, we see Twitter buckling down on certain issues, such as no longer giving users the benefit of the doubt if they share nonconsensual nudity. Whereas the existing policy is to treat these users as if they are someone who could have shared the content unknowingly, the new policy will be to "immediately and permanently suspend any account we identify as the original poster/source of non-consensual nudity and/or if a user makes it clear they are intentionally posting said content to harass their target."

The company also plans to make it very clear that 'unwanted sexual advances' will be outlined as unacceptable. The company will also soon detail what it considers to be hate symbols and imagery, and it will blurred out like other sensitive content. The company is likewise going to get harder on tweets that glorify violence, and 'take enforcement' against what it deems violent groups. The email explains that Twitter will also improve its appeals process.

SOURCE: Wired