Twitter’s tightening of rules on hate speech is ‘a step in the right direction’

Twitter has tightened its rules on hate-speech to include personal profile information as well as hateful imagery such as swastikas.

The social media giant’s “toughening stance on extremism and hatred” were welcomed this week by Jewish representatives, with Board of Deputies’ vice-president Marie van der Zyl saying it was “very much a step in the right direction”.

She added: “Social media presents many emerging opportunities, but many emerging challenges as well. Twitter and other social media companies must be continually mindful about making their platforms safe as they evolve.”

Information contained in a person’s profile, regardless of what they actually tweet, will now be considered, while those who link to groups that use or celebrate violence will be banned, Twitter said.

The changes will “reduce the amount of abusive behaviour and hateful conduct” on Twitter, a spokeswoman said, confirming that profiles would be removed.

“If an account’s profile information includes a violent threat or multiple slurs, epithets, racist or sexist tropes, incites fear, or reduces someone to less than human, it will be permanently suspended,” she said. “We plan to develop internal tools to help us identify violating accounts to supplement user reports.”

The company said hateful imagery could include “logos, symbols or images whose purpose is to promote hostility and malice against others based on their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or ethnicity/national origin”.