Twitter updated
its private information policy Tuesday to stop people from posting photos and
videos of private people without their permission. The change is intended at addressing
concerns about the misuse of media and information that is not available
elsewhere online to harass, intimidate, and reveal identities of people.
The social media
giant issued a statement saying, “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 can have
a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents and members of
minority communities.”
What is
Twitter doing?
While Twitter
users will not have to submit a consent form or any such thing while uploading
pictures of private individuals, Twitter will take action when anyone reports a
violation of the policy.
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“When private
information or media has been shared on Twitter, we need a first-person report
or a report from an authorized representative in order to make the
determination that the image or video has been shared without their permission,”
Twitter said.
What Twitter will
do is that it will notify individuals depicted, or by an authorised representative,
that they did not consent to having their private image or video shared, Twitter
will remove it.
There will be
exceptions
Despite these
stringent rules, Twitter will maintain some exceptions. The new policy will not
be applicable to the media featuring public figures or individuals when media accompanying
Tweet text are shared in public interest or add value to public discourse.
Social media
in context
Twitter recently
changed its chief executive from Jack Dorsey to Parag Agarwal. Dorsey cofounded
Twitter in 2006, is leaving after overseeing the launch of new ways to create
content through newsletters or audio conversations while simultaneously serving
as CEO of his payments processing company Square Inc.
