Twitter announced Tuesday that it is revising its privacy policy to block the sharing of photos and videos of people without their consent.
In a blog post, the company said there are growing concerns about the misuse of media and information that is not available elsewhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of individuals.
“Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person’s privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm,” Twitter said in the blog post.
“The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities.
“When we receive a report that a Tweet contains unauthorized private media, we will now take action in line with our range of enforcement options.”
Twitter said that to enforce the new policy, it will require a first-person report or a report from an authorized representative in order to make the determination that the image or video has been shared without their permission.
“Feeling safe on Twitter is different for everyone, and our teams are constantly working to understand and address these needs,” said Twitter.
“We know our work will never be done, and we will continue to invest in making our product and policies more robust and transparent to continue to earn the trust of the people using our service.”
Also read: Jack Dorsey Steps Down As Twitter CEO
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is stepping down as chief executive of the company. The social media giant said he will be replaced by the current chief technical officer, Parag Agrawal.
Agrawal is currently the chief technology officer of Twitter.
The company said Dorsey would step down immediately but that he would remain on the board until Twitter’s shareholder meeting in 2022.
“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart and soul. It’s his time to lead,” said Dorsey.
