Twitter bans sharing of photos and videos of people without their consent

What Twitter is saying

The company said in a blog post, “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 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 also noted that there may be instances where users may share images or videos of private individuals in an effort to help someone involved in a crisis situation. In cases like this, the company stated thus: “We will always try to assess the context in which the content is shared and, in such cases, we may allow the images or videos to remain on the service. For instance, we would take into consideration whether the image is publicly available and/or is being covered by mainstream/traditional media (newspapers, TV channels, online news sites), or if a particular image and the accompanying tweet text adds value to the public discourse, is being shared in public interest, or is relevant to the community.

Users can report rule-breaking tweets by clicking on the three dots at the top right corner of the tweet, selecting Report Tweet, selecting ‘It’s abusive or harmful,’ and clicking ‘Includes private information.”