Twitter bans sharing private people’s videos and images without consent, the company announced Tuesday.
“Beginning today, we will not allow the sharing of private media, such as images or videos of private individuals without their consent. Publishing people’s private info is also prohibited under the policy, as is threatening or incentivizing others to do so.” Twiter Safety
According to the company, image sharing is an integral part of the overall Twitter experience. However, Twitter users must have an option to allow or disallow someone from sharing a photo or video publicly. If a private media is misused it could affect women, activists, people from minorities, etc. Hence, incase of a tweet having unverified private media then Twitter would take action according to its enforcement options.
This does not imply that Twitter will require consent from all people in a photo or video before posting it. However, if the person depicted requests that the media be removed, Twitter will comply.
“When we are notified by individuals depicted, or by an authorized representative, that they did not consent to having their private image or video shared, we will remove it,” Twitter wrote in its update. “This policy is not applicable to media featuring public figures or individuals when media and accompanying Tweet text are shared in the public interest or add value to public discourse.”
A blog post from Twitter Safety mentions that the following actions are not allowed:
- threatening to publicly expose someone’s private information;
- sharing information that would enable individuals to hack or gain access to someone’s private information without their consent,e.g., sharing sign-in credentials for online banking services;
- asking for or offering a bounty or financial reward in exchange for posting someone’s private information;
- asking for a bounty or financial reward in exchange for not posting someone’s private information, sometimes referred to as blackmail.
Some actions that are already banned on Twitter are the sharing of a person’s private details, like addresses, phone numbers and IDs. However, with the recent update Twitter will work on taking action on a private video or picture shared without consent.
