Twitter will allow freedom of speech but not "freedom of reach" as it will restrict visibility of tweets that violate its rules, the company said in its policy update. The microblogging platform will initially apply the visibility filter on tweets that are found violating hateful conduct rules and later expand it to other domains.
The social media firm said that Twitter users have the right to express their opinions and ideas without fear of censorship, but the platform will restrict the reach of tweets that "violate our policies by making the content less discoverable".
How does the visibility filter works?
The visibility filtering is one of Twitter's current enforcement measures which limits the reach of tweets. This, according to the blog post, will enable the platform to move beyond the dichotomous "leave up versus take down" method of content monitoring.
Twitter will add publicly visible labels to tweets identified as potentially violating the platform's policies, thereby, letting the user know that the tweet's visibility has been limited. The flagged tweets will not have advertisements placed adjacent to them, as per the new rule.
The authors of the flagged tweets will be able to submit feedback on the label, if they think Twitter "incorrectly limited their tweet's visibility". "Currently, submitting feedback does not guarantee you will receive a response or that your tweet's reach will be restored. We are working on allowing authors to appeal our decision," the blog read.
Currently, the filter will only apply to a set of tweets that potentially violate Twitter's 'Hateful Conduct policy'. It will later expand to other policy areas in the coming months which include violent speech, child sexual exploitation, abuse/harassment, suicide and sensitive media. The flag will read "Visibility limited: this Tweet may violate Twitter's rules against Hateful Conduct".
What is considered as 'hateful conduct' on Twitter?
Twitter's hateful conduct policy forbids directly attacking other people "on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease."
According to its Help Centre, the microblogging platform committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, "particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized".
The violations include hateful references which refers to or depict genocides and lynchings, spreading fearful stereotypes about a protected category and inciting others to harass members of a protected category on or off platform.
Use of slurs to harass and intimidate others or using hateful imageries in form of photo or logos (like Nazi swastika) which could be employed to promote hostility and malice against people based on their race, religion, disability and sexual orientation also counts as violation of the Twitter policy.
Lastly, a profile which uses hateful images or symbols in their profile image, Twitter bio, display name or Twitter handle and engages in abusive behavior on the platform is included in the hateful conduct.
What has Musk said about taking down tweets?
The visibility filter gives users a fair chance to submit feedback if they think their tweet has been wrongfully flagged. However, Musk's recent comment on taking tweets down is quite contrary to the democratic stance of the platform.
In a Twitter Spaces conversation with BBC journalist James Clayton, Musk was asked why Twitter had taken down posts related to the BBC documentary series, India: The Modi Question. To this, he said that he was not aware of tweets being taken down. Musk said, "I'm not aware about this particular case. India has very strict social media laws."
He also added that if given a choice between complying with a country's law and going to jail, he would choose the former.