Twitter has made it official: revenge porn is now banned on the service.
A new addition to The Twitter Rules states “You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent.”
Once Twitter gets proof that content was posted without consent, it will lock offending accounts until such content is removed. If the posts are determined to be intentional harassment, users will be banned.
This is the latest step in Twitter’s campaign against abuse and harassment on the site. CEO Dick Costolo admitted earlier this year the management “sucks” at handling trolls and took personal responsibility for the problem.
The company also updated its anti-harassment tools in December to make it easier to report abusive content.
Banning revenge porn seems like a no-brainer, a writer at SlashGear says, but “it sometimes pays to be perfectly explicit, especially when it comes down to legalities.”
The practical impact will probably be limited, given Twitter’s enormous volume of traffic: half a billion tweets a day, by one of Twitter’s recent counts.
What’s more, Twitter’s rules suggest it will be people addressing the revenge porn complains, on a case-by-case basis. Manpower might become an issue.
Still, Silicon Angle notes, “Small things like banning revenge porn in its terms of use can only help the reputation of the site, and certainly don’t hurt it.”
The rules went into effect Wednesday evening. Full text can be found on Twitter’s support page.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
