Twitter Expands Hate Speech Rules

Twitter has widened what constitutes hateful and harmful behavior on its platform, and says it will begin enforcing stricter rules concerning it. Information contained in a person’s profile, regardless of what they actually tweet, will now be considered, BBC reported. Those who express an affiliation with groups that use or celebrate violence to achieve their aims will be permanently suspended, Twitter said. Hateful imagery - such as the Nazi swastika - will now be hidden. A “sensitive media” prompt will be shown to users before they can opt to view it. The company said the move would “reduce the amount of abusive behavior and hateful conduct” on the network. A spokeswoman confirmed profiles would be removed, but would not give an example of an account in violation of the rules. Shortly after revising the rules, Twitter suspended the accounts of two leaders of a British far-right group. Paul Golding, Britain First’s leader, and Jayda Fransen, his deputy, can no longer tweet and their past posts no longer appear. The organization’s official Twitter page has suffered the same fate.