The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Twitter launches new abuse policy to combat harassment, terrorism

Twitter+launches+new+abuse+policy+to+combat+harassment%2C+terrorism

At the start of the new year, Twitter has hit the ground running. The social media website announced on December 30 that it is implementing an updated policy aimed at cracking down on terrorist propaganda, hate speech and online harassment.

The additions to the company’s abuse policy explicitly prohibit any users that “promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.”

Twitter also said they will deactivate the accounts of any users who engage in “hateful conduct” or whose “primary purpose is inciting harm towards others.”

This shift in policy comes after years of criticism of the social media giant for failing to protect its users from abuse – and to prevent terrorist organizations like the Islamic State from using the website as a recruiting tool. The worldwide recruitment of many new members has been attributed in large part to the Islamic State’s use of social media to spread propaganda and contact sympathizers.

Story continues below advertisement

Critics of the new policy are concerned it could be used to silence unpopular speech. Others have suggested the opposite – that Twitter still has not gone far enough to curb terrorism and abuse.

[playbuzz-item url=”//www.playbuzz.com/thepitchonline10/what-do-you-think-of-twitters-new-abuse-policy”]

0
0
View Comments (2)
Donate to The Pitch
$775
$1000
Contributed
Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Walter Johnson High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
About the Contributor
Jeffrey Cirillo, Co-Online News Editor
Senior Jeffrey Cirillo is excited to join The Pitch Online this year as the Co-Online News Editor. Jeffrey joined Journalism 1 in his junior year, and developed a passion for reporting the news. Jeffrey is also a member of the Debate and Forensics teams, a swimmer for the Swim and Dive team and the president of the National Honor Society. [email protected] 
Donate to The Pitch
$775
$1000
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (2)

All The Pitch Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • J

    James McDowellFeb 5, 2016 at 8:59 am

    This article also doesn’t go into nearly as much depth as it should. there are many different sides to this issue, as well as a significant controversy, and I’m certain you know this because otherwise twitter’s TOS changing would have not been an event worthy of a news article.

    Reply
  • J

    James McDowellFeb 5, 2016 at 8:52 am

    I’ve been following this issue. It was sparked by Milo Yiannopoulos telling somebody to screw off. By harassment and terrorism, they mean people being relatively unkind, and not the several ISIS recruiting accounts, and convicted rapists. They continue to be active on twitter. And no I’m not being facetious. It also seems to be purely a political statement, as they only deverified Yiannopoulos. They did not ban him, they punished him on a personal level.

    If you need to be “protected” from Milo Yiannpoulos, you’d have to be more helpless and childish than he is.

    Reply