Just one day after replacing Jack Dorsey as its CEO, Twitter has expanded the amount of content prohibited from the site.
From this point on “private media” or videos recorded without consent of the second party will no longer be permitted on Twitter. Many fear that this policy appears to almost intentionally target Project Veritas, a group of undercover journalists.
Twitter said that it will make exceptions for content which is “featuring public figures or individuals when media and accompanying Tweet text are shared in the public interest or add value to public discourse.”
The Daily Caller also reported, The social media company announced the new changes in a blog post written by its Twitter Safety team Tuesday, updating its policy on sharing private information such as driver’s license numbers or home addresses to include private media like images and videos. Under the new rules, an individual can notify Twitter if an image of them is shared without their consent, and Twitter will consider removing the offending image.
The policy however, does not apply to individuals who willfully choose to release their own private information on the platform.
Twitter claims that it’s main purpose is to prevent harassment, silencing and intimidation despite using all of these tactics themselves to silence journalists like those from Project Veritas.
According to a Twitter spokesperson, media that depicts actors, political leaders, business executives and journalists will be exempt.
However, when it comes to privacy policy, Twitter has a history of enforcing their rules, only when they want to.
For example Twitter completely banned a URL for a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop last year citing privacy issues.
However, this same policy was not enforced on the story from the New York Times about Donald Trump’s tax returns, which is arguably more private than one of Hunter’s seemingly countless laptop computers.