This Tuesday, Twitter announced that it is expanding its private information policy, to now also include the media –multimedia content, such as images and videos–, so now sharing photos or videos of a private individual without their permission is prohibited, as this would be a violation of your privacy, as well as potentially causing you some kind of emotional or physical harm.
The Twitter security team wrote in a post on their official blog that, although anyone can be affected by the sharing of their private images or videos, this action “may have a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents and members of minority communities.”
If someone reports a photo or video that violates the policy, the social network will remove the media and take appropriate action, including reducing the visibility of the tweet in responses and search results or telling the person who posted it that I deleted it. Twitter also has the right to permanently suspend users who violate the policy..
What does this new security policy prohibit?
According to the private information policy that Twitter has just updated, It is prohibited to share the following types of private information or media, without the permission of the person to whom it belongs:
– Home address or physical location information, including street addresses, GPS coordinates, or other identifying information related to locations that are considered private.
– Identity documents, including government-issued identifications and social security number or other national identity numbers (limited exceptions may be made in regions where this information is not considered private),
contact information, including personal non-public phone numbers or email addresses.
– Financial account information, including bank account and credit card details.
– Other types of private information, including biometric data or medical records.
– The new section that was added is this: Private media, without the permission of the represented persons (means to the photographs and videos).
The following behaviors are also not allowed:
– Threaten with publicly exposing someone’s private information.
– Share information that would allow people to hack or gain access to someone’s private information without their consent, for example, sharing login credentials for online banking services.
– Ask or offer a reward in exchange for publishing someone’s private information.
– Ask for a reward in exchange for not publishing someone’s private information, which is sometimes called blackmail.
There are some exceptions to the policy. For example, it does not cover the private content of public figures or others if a photo or video and the text in the accompanying tweet “are shared in the public interest or add value to public discourse.”
This means that, If the shared content is newsworthy, Twitter may allow the media to remain on the platform. The company will consider factors such as whether the images are available elsewhere, such as on television or in the newspapers, as well as their contribution to the information.
On the other hand, the publication clarifies that if the purpose of the dissemination of private images of public figures or people who are part of public conversations is to harass, intimidate or use fear to silence them, Twitter could eliminate the content of those tweets.
While private nude images of public persons will continue to be handled under the non-consensual nudity policy of the social network, where, as the case may be, a notice will be sent to delete the tweet in question, or the account will be permanently suspended.
Twitter said it will begin enforcing the private image rule today and that The new measure is part of its work to align its security policies with human rights standards.