Twitter Bans Links to Hate Speech and Violent Content

Twitter closes a loophole as they are now making it harder for users to upload and spread detrimentally harmful content.

Starting from July 30^th, Twitter has updated its guidelines and is now banning hateful links that contain violent or hateful content. This updated policy means that the social media platforms will now censor harmful links that contain promotion of “violence against, threatens or harasses other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious diseases.”

Harmful links also deceiving links that disrupt user experience and contain malware. Twitter has had its own terms on safe online conduct, but some users and trolls circumvented this rule by uploading links instead of directly uploading said material. Many users are rejoicing as it is the right step forward in creating a peaceful and positive platform. Those who are found repeatedly disobeying this new term may find their account suspended.

As we continue to address harmful content, we’ve updated our link policy:

1️⃣ Hateful conduct and violence are now link content categories that we may block
2️⃣ Accounts dedicated to sharing these types of links may be suspended

The full policy: https://t.co/G99F3M779b

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 28, 2020

This new update follows the new Twitter feature that rolled out in June. In hopes to combat fake news and misinformation, Twitter introduced a new feature that asks its users if they have read an article before they retweeted it to their personal account.