Twitter Mistakenly Suspends Users as Extremists Abuse New Image Rules

It did not take long for bad actors to abuse Twitter's new image rules, and the social media company has confirmed it mistakenly suspended multiple accounts from false reports generated by "far-right" extremists.

On November 30, Twitter published an update to its private information policy that specifically banned the publication of photos and videos (defined as media) of private individuals without their permission.

“Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person’s privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm," the company wrote at the time. "The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities."

New policies like this are prime for exploitation, and that appears to have been exactly what happened. Twitter told the Washington Post that it mistakenly suspended the accounts of 12 journalists and anti-extremism researchers after what are described as "far-right" activists and white supremacists sent a "coordinated and malicious" set of false reports in what was likely an attempt to silence their opinions. Twitter did not specify how many reports it received, but that it was a "significant amount."

Twitter says it has already reversed many of the mistaken suspensions and is taking steps to ensure that its new policy and the actions taken as a result of it are working as intended. Engadget reports that while the full volume of false reports will be made available at a later date, some of the targets of the false reports were still mistakenly banned at the time of the Washington Post 's publication.

While Twitter says it is reviewing its policy, it is clear that there are kinks to work out. A major concern surrounding the new rule involves enforcement, which would be nearly impossible to do site-wide and would require a robust checking system to assure all claims are legitimate. Obviously, such a system was not implemented.

The addition of the new policy happened shortly after Twitter's long-time CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down from the role and the company's former CTO Parag Agrawal replaced him. Agrawal has made several notable changes in quick order since taking over the helm at the social media company, including a promise that he would reorganize top leadership in a move that saw two key executives depart.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.

#culture #news #abuse #badactors #extremists #false #newrules #privacy #privateinformationpolicy #privaypolicy #rules #socialmedia #streetphotography #twitter

Twitter Bans Sharing Photos of People Without Their Express Consent

Twitter has published an update to its private information policy that specifically bans the publication of photos and videos (media) of private individuals without the permission of those depicted.

In a blog post, Twitter says that because of ongoing concerns about the misuse of media and information that is not available anywhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of individuals, the company is making a change to its policy that bans the publication of photos and videos on its platform if those depicted have not provided express consent.

"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," the company says. "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."

Sharing images is an important part of folks' experience on Twitter. People should have a choice in determining whether or not a photo is shared publicly. To that end we are expanding the scope of our Private Information Policy. 🧵

-- Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) November 30, 2021

Twitter already prohibits publishing other people's private information such as phone numbers, addresses, and IDs, which also covers the threat to expose private information or incentivizing others to do so. This new addition specifically bans the publication of "media of private individuals without the permission of the person(s) depicted."

The new rule appears to have been put in place to help prevent doxxing, which is the act of searching for and publishing private or identifying information about a particular individual on the internet with malicious intent.

"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," Twitter adds.

"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."

In cases where Twitter needs to make these determinations, it's not clear who at the company would do so or by what metrics those determinations would be made other than what is described above.

New CEO, new rules. Twitter bans sharing images or videos of private individuals without their consent as part of update to doxxing policy.

So you can now issue DMCA style takedown requests of photos of you on Twitter. Enforcement is going to be wild.<https://t.co/LNmvER76WO>

-- Dare Obasanjo (@Carnage4Life) November 30, 2021

Enforcement is the biggest concern with this issue and, as David Hobby writes, while it would be pretty much impossible to enforce the rule across the platform, it would be incredibly easy to selectively enforce. Technically, many forms of street photography would be prohibited under this new rule.

1. Um, wow.

2. Note: while this is obviously pretty much impossible to blanket-enforce, it’d be easy to selectively enforce. <https://t.co/pqxaIqzb4m>

-- David Hobby (@strobist) November 30, 2021

Twitter's full statement on the changes to its rules can be read on its website.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.

#culture #news #newrules #privacy #privateinformationpolicy #privaypolicy #rules #socialmedia #streetphotography #twitter