Twitter to introduce ban on dehumanising comments
As coronavirus fears continued to mount
Amnesty International India says 95 female politicians received nearly 1 million hateful mentions on Twitter. PHOTO: REUTERS
SAN FRANCISCO:
As coronavirus fears continued to mount on Thursday, Twitter expanded its ban on "dehumanising language" to include disease.
A rule barring such hate speech targeting religious groups now applies to "language that dehumanises on the basis of age, disability, or disease," the Twitter safety team said in an online post.
Coronavirus impacts gaming events, eSports tournaments
"Our primary focus is on addressing the risks of offline harm, and research shows that dehumanising language increases that risk," it said.
Twitter will delete tweets already posted that break the rules, relying on users to report offending comments.
Examples of rule-breaking tweets included posts that refer to people with a disease as "rats that contaminate everyone around them" or people with a particular disability as "subhuman."
Twitter tells all staff to work from home due to coronavirus
Twitter and other social networks have been struggling with removing hateful and abusive content while remaining open platforms.
The online services have also faced accusations that the curbs suppress some political views.
As coronavirus fears continued to mount on Thursday, Twitter expanded its ban on "dehumanising language" to include disease.
A rule barring such hate speech targeting religious groups now applies to "language that dehumanises on the basis of age, disability, or disease," the Twitter safety team said in an online post.
Coronavirus impacts gaming events, eSports tournaments
"Our primary focus is on addressing the risks of offline harm, and research shows that dehumanising language increases that risk," it said.
Twitter will delete tweets already posted that break the rules, relying on users to report offending comments.
Examples of rule-breaking tweets included posts that refer to people with a disease as "rats that contaminate everyone around them" or people with a particular disability as "subhuman."
Twitter tells all staff to work from home due to coronavirus
Twitter and other social networks have been struggling with removing hateful and abusive content while remaining open platforms.
The online services have also faced accusations that the curbs suppress some political views.