Twitter launches hate speech crackdown

Twitter began enforcing new policies to combat hate speech and abusive behavior on the platform Monday, leading to the suspension of several accounts associated with white nationalism. 

As part of its new approach, Twitter says it will now start banning accounts that affiliate with groups “that use or promote violence against civilians to further their causes.” The company says that government entities are exempt from this policy.

Twitter began to act on the new policy Monday morning, suspending several prominent accounts involved in white nationalism or the August white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Va. The site also cracked down on a far-right British activist who had been retweeted by President Trump, as well as several other accounts associated with her ultranationalist group.

Twitter will also expand their ban on violent threats to include content that glorifies violence.

{mosads}“The first time an account violates this policy they will be required to delete the violating tweet and be temporarily placed in read-only mode,” the new rule reads. “Subsequent violations could lead to longer periods of read-only mode, and eventually result in permanent suspension.”

The social media platform is also expanding its efforts to combat hate speech by cracking down on racist or sexist messages in account bios and images. Twitter will start banning users that promote hate speech in their account information and require users to delete images that feature hateful imagery, including racist logos.

“In our efforts to be more aggressive here, we may make some mistakes and are working on a robust appeals process,” Twitter said in a blog post. “We’ll evaluate and iterate on these changes in the coming days and weeks, and will keep you posted on progress along the way.”