Twitter Adds Images, Videos to Its Private Information Policy

Twitter’s private information policy already prohibited the posting of people’s private information—such as address, identification and phone numbers—along with threatening to do so or incentivizing other people to do so. The social network added private media to the mix in an update revealed Tuesday. The company explained in a blog post Tuesday, “There are growing concerns about the misuse of media and information that is not available elsewhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate and reveal the identities of individuals. Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person’s privacy and may lead to emotional or physical harm. The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but it can have a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents and members of minority communities. When we receive a report that a tweet contains unauthorized private media, we will now take action in line with our range of enforcement options.” Twitter added that while its existing policies and the Twitter Rules cover explicit instances of abusive behavior, this update will enable it to take action on media shared without any explicit abusive content if it is posted without the consent of the person depicted. The social network wrote, “This is a part of our ongoing work to align our safety policies with human rights standards, and it will be enforced globally starting today.” Twitter explained that it will remove images or videos when it is notified by the individuals that are depicted in that media, or an authorized representative for those individuals, that they did not consent to its posting. The new policy does not cover media featuring public figures, or individuals when media and accompanying text in tweets is shared in the public interest or to add value to public discourse, but Twitter clarified, “If the purpose of the dissemination of private images of public figures or individuals who are part of public conversations is to harass, intimidate or use fear to silence them, we may remove the content in line with our policy against abusive behavior. Similarly, private nude images of public individuals will continue to be actioned under our non-consensual nudity policy.” The company also noted that it recognizes that there are instances where images or videos may be shared in an effort to help someone involved in a crisis situation, such as in the aftermath of a violent event, or as part of a newsworthy event due to public interest value, adding that it will always seek to assess the context in which the media is shared. Twitter offered as an example of factors it will consider whether the media is publicly available or being covered by mainstream or traditional newspapers, online news sites or television channels. Following Tuesday’s update, Twitter’s privacy information policy now prevents the sharing of: Home address or physical location information, including street addresses, GPS coordinates or other identifying information related to locations that are considered private.Identity documents, including government-issued IDs and social security or other national identity numbers. Twitter said it may make limited exceptions in regions where this information is not considered to be private.Contact information, including non-public personal phone numbers or email addresses.Financial account information, including bank account and credit card details.Other private information, including biometric data or medical records.Media of private individuals without the permission of the person(s) depicted. And behaviors covered by the policy are: Threatening to publicly expose someone’s private information.Sharing information that would enable individuals to hack or gain access to someone’s private information without their consent, such as sign-in credentials for online banking services.Asking for or offering a bounty or financial reward in exchange for posting someone’s private information.Asking for a bounty or financial reward in exchange for not posting someone’s private information, sometimes referred to as blackmail.