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Twitter has banned nearly all images and videos containing people who are not authorized to post such media. The new rule is an extension of the company’s privacy policy and is intended to protect the human rights of its users and comes just a day after former CEO, Jack Dorsey, resigned and declared Parag Agrawal, who joined Twitter in 2011 as an engineer and previously held the position of Chief Technology Officer, is his successor.
In a thread, posted to Account @TwitterSafety On November 30, Twitter said “Starting today, we won’t allow sharing of private media, such as pictures or videos, by private individuals without consent.” theirs” and an additional Tweet saying “Sharing images is a big part of everyone’s experience” on Twitter. People should have a choice in determining whether a photo should be shared publicly. To that end, we are expanding the scope of our Personal Information Policy. ‘
Image sharing is an important part of everyone’s experience on Twitter. People should have a choice in determining whether a photo should be shared publicly. To that end, we are expanding the scope of our Personal Information Policy. 🧵
– Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) November 30, 2021
The general ban seems to imply that users may not post any content that includes people who have not been pre-licensed, although certain exceptions will be made. The blog post below states ‘This policy does not apply to media featuring public figures or individuals where the media and accompanying Tweet text are shared in the public interest. or add value to public discourse.’ If that exception feels vague, you’re not alone in thinking so. No guidelines have been provided to help users understand what ‘public interest’, ‘public discourse’ or ‘public figure’ means, and these terms will not be decided upon. by any standard.
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| Damien Demolder’s photo |
Twitter later said in its statement that the offending content would not be automatically removed. Instead, Twitter will only get involved once the subject — or someone acting on their behalf at law — makes Twitter aware that it doesn’t consent to the images being posted. When this happens, the poster’s account will be locked until the offending Tweet is deleted. The new rule appears to bypass anyone’s right to take pictures in public places and publish them in an editorial or artist context, and even those who post holiday photos on popular websites can including other members of the public.
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| Damien Demolder’s photo |
For street, travel and documentary photographers, the rules are of great interest, as they suggest that real images cannot be used, and indeed any images that contain third parties. three are not licensed whether they appear in a landscape or an architectural setting. As for posted photos, it’s unclear whether someone agreeing to be photographed is the same as agreeing to post the photo on Twitter, or if someone needs to be present in the photo or video for them to object. .
More importantly, perhaps, this rule seems vulnerable to abuse by those who seek to avoid public scrutiny from independent journalists exposing corruption, crime and wrongdoing, as they only can complain to Twitter and take down posts, including screenshots.
Cases of this have emerged, according to the social journalist Chad Loder, who pointed out that some journalists’ accounts are being locked after people they come in contact with complain of illegal activity. In theory, many of these posts could be covered by the exception ‘contains eyewitness accounts or basic reports of events in development;’ but the concern is who will make the ruling in these cases.
.@TwitterSafety Photojournalist just raped Kelly Stuart (@SkySpider_) to remove the video under their new “private media” policy.
The video shows two right-wing extremists (in public) planning a criminal attack on the reporter @emilymolli, documented here: https://t.co/o5Zjj26zN0
– Chad Loder (last name / last name) (@chadloder) December 1, 2021
As usual with new policies open to interpretation, only time will tell what impact this new policy will have on photographers and journalists. The privacy of the disagreeing parties must certainly be rectified, but further clarification from Twitter and its Safety team should help policy-compliant users better understand how their images, if inappropriate, should be corrected. legal and as required by law, may affect their status on social media platforms.
For more information, see Twitter safe account and Twitter Blog.
Statement on Twitter:
Expand our personal information policy to include the media
By Twitter Safety
As part of our ongoing effort to build tools that are privacy and security at the core, we are updating our existing personal information policy and expanding our coverage to include: “personal media”. Under our current policy, publishing other people’s personal information, such as phone numbers, addresses, and IDs, was not allowed on Twitter. This includes threatening to disclose personal information or encouraging others to do so.
There is growing concern about the misuse of media and information that is not available online as a tool to harass, intimidate and reveal the identities of individuals. Sharing personal media, such as pictures or videos, can violate a person’s privacy and can lead to mental or physical harm. The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have a disproportionate impact on women, activists, dissidents and members of the public. members of minority communities. When we receive reports that a Tweet contains unauthorized personal media, we will now take action in accordance with our many enforcement options.
While our existing policies and Twitter Rules address obvious instances of abuse, this update will allow us to take action on shared media without contains any blatantly abusive content, as long as it is posted without the consent of the person described. This is part of our ongoing work to align our safety policies with human rights standards, and it will be enforced globally starting today.
What violates this policy?
According to our personal information policy, you may not share the following types of personal information or media without the permission of its owner:
- home address or physical location information, including street addresses, GPS coordinates, or other identifying information related to locations that are considered private;
- identification documents, including government-issued IDs and social security numbers or other national identifiers – note: we may make limited exceptions to regions where this information is not available. is considered private;
- contact information, including a personal phone number or email address that is not publicly available;
- financial account information, including bank account and credit card details; and
- other personal information, including biometric data or medical records.
- NEW: private individuals’ media without the permission of the person(s) described.
The following behaviors are also not allowed:
- threatens to publicly disclose someone’s personal information;
- information sharing that may allow individuals to hack or gain access to someone’s personal information without their consent, e.g. sharing login information for online banking services ;
- request or offer a bonus or financial reward in exchange for posting someone’s personal information;
- asking for bonuses or financial rewards in exchange for not posting someone’s personal information, sometimes referred to as blackmail.
When personal information or media is shared on Twitter, we need a first-person report or an authorized representative’s report to determine that the image or video was shared without permission. their. Learn more about the report on Twitter.
Share media privately
When we are notified by the individuals described or by their authorized representatives that they do not consent to the sharing of their private image or video, we will remove it. This policy does not apply to media featuring public figures or individuals where the media and accompanying Tweet text are shared in the public interest or add value to the speaker’s speech. general public.
However, if the purpose of disseminating private images of public figures or individuals participating in public conversations is to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence them, we I may remove content in accordance with our anti-abuse policy.. Similarly, private nudity of public individuals will continue to be made under our no nudity policy. our consent.
We’re aware that there are instances where account holders may share photos or videos of private individuals in an effort to help someone involved in a crisis situation, such as after a violent event. force or as part of a credible event in the public interest and this may outweigh the safety risk to a person.
We will always endeavor to assess the context in which content is shared, and in such cases we may allow images or videos to remain on the service. For example, we will look at whether the image is publicly available and/or covered by the mainstream/traditional media (press, TV channels, online news sites) , or if a particular image and accompanying tweet add value to public discourse, is being shared for the common good, or is relevant to the community.
Everyone feels safe on Twitter, and our teams are constantly working to understand and address these needs. We know our work will never be done and we will continue to invest in making our products and policies stronger and more transparent to continue to win the trust of our users. use our services.
