Twitter now makes it harder for users to spread violent, hateful content

Arhama Altaf

30th Jul, 2020. 10:45 am
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Over the years, Twitter has extensively worked towards limiting hateful conduct on the platform. The company has comprehensive rules barring violence and misleading content.

However, none of these policies extended to link content that was being used to effectively bypass the rules. Users started linking content that was otherwise blocked.

Twitter is finally closing the loophole making it harder for users to spread malicious, misleading, and violent content.

The company has also published a blog post detailing the rules under which links to content will be blocked, and these guidelines will take action by 30^th July 2020.

According to Twitter, “Twitter will take action to limit or prevent the spread of URL links to content outside Twitter. This is done by displaying a warning notice when the link is clicked, or by blocking the link so that it can’t be Tweeted at all. Moreover, users that frequently share Malicious links, Spammy links, links related to violence and terrorism, illegal goods, and hacked material will be blocked permanently.”

How Twitter Surfaces Links

Twitter uses a combination of factors to identify links that display content against the platform’s rules. They receive information from:

Third-party vendors who specialize in countering spam and malware

Collaborative information sharing with industry peers and trusted NGO partners
Internal technology and tools
Reported Tweets

These links are evaluated based on the following points:

The source of the URL in question and our degree of certainty
The severity of the website’s content
Intent of the sharer

Twitter now makes it harder for users to spread violent, hateful content

Arhama Altaf

Articles