Twitter Bans Users From Posting ‘Private Media’ Without a Person’s Consent

Twitter on Tuesday announced an expansion to its private
information policy to include private media, effectively
prohibiting the sharing of photos and videos without express
permission from the individuals depicted in them with an aim to
curb doxxing and harassment.

“Beginning today, we will not allow the sharing of private
media, such as images or videos of private individuals without
their consent. Publishing people’s private info is also prohibited
under the policy, as is threatening or incentivizing others to do
so,” the company’s Safety team said^[1]
in a tweet.

To that end, the policy also discourages^[2]
users from sharing information such as sign-in credentials that
would enable malicious actors to gain access to a person’s
sensitive information without their consent. It also forbids users
from seeking financial compensation in exchange for posting (or not
posting) another individual’s private information as part of
blackmail schemes.

As part of the revised policy, the social media platform will
allow individuals to request takedowns of pictures or videos
featuring them with a clearly abusive intent, and violators found
sharing private information and media will be prompted to remove
the offending content and have their accounts temporarily locked
out. Users contravening the private information policy twice will
risk permanent suspension of their accounts.

Twitter also clarified^[3]
that multimedia content that shows public figures or individuals
participating in large events like protests and sporting events
would not violate this policy, adding it doesn’t consider people’s
names and dates of birth; descriptions of physical appearance;
accusations, and allegations; and screengrabs of posts and messages
taken from other platforms as private unless they contain details
such as a phone number.

It’s also worth pointing out that the new rule doesn’t extend to
individuals when media and accompanying Tweet text are “shared in
the public interest or add value to public discourse.” But what
exactly constitutes public interest remains in question,
effectively giving the company ample room to exercise its own
discretion.

“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,”
Twitter said. “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.”