We tried making sense of Twitter's confusing policy on posting personal media

Twitter seems to be full of announcements these past few days, from dropping the bomb on the appointment of a new CEO to making a big update to its safety policy. However, the latter announcement is giving rise to more questions than answers.

WHAT IS THE SAFETY POLICY UPDATE? The latest safety policy bars sharing of ‘personal media’ of individuals without the consent of the said people. Earlier, sharing a person’s address, contact information, abusive or nude media and other personal details was barred.

But now it also includes sharing non-abusive images or media of people.

“Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person’s privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm,” Twitter’s new safety policy reads.

Twitter says that non-abusive images (meaning normal images which don't include abuse or nudity) of women, activists and others could be shared without permission, that could put the subjects in danger. 

HOW WILL TWITTER ENFORCE THE POLICY? The introduction of the latest policy doesn’t mean that you will not be able to post pictures or media (non-abusive) of other people. It just means that if the tweet is reported by a valid figure, then action will be taken against it.

“When private information or media has been shared on Twitter, we need a first-person report or a report from an authorised representative in order to make the determination that the image or video has been shared without their permission,” the policy explains.

WHAT ARE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS? Twitter has defined what ‘personal media’ entails. It will not include the images or videos of public figures. Nor will it take action against personal media shared in the interest of the public.

For example, Twitter is yet to clarify what happens when someone shares the image of a missing person or a wanted criminal. Nor will sharing the images of a politician be barred.

WHAT IS UNKNOWN: Twitter doesn’t elaborate on how it plans to take down the reported media in case it is shared by a large number of users. Nor does it explain how it will deal with screenshots – what is literally the elephant memory redefined by internet.

It’s a conundrum; how Twitter will move to take action against a post when reported, since it is a tedious and time-consuming job and whether the action taken will be timely or not.  

On the other hand, it is unknown how Twitter will define what is being shared in public interest and what is not.

CRITICISM: Not everyone is convinced that Twitter’s actions are in the interest of the users. Some claimed that it is an ill-conceived policy which may stop the dissemination of public interest posts such as that of George Floyd murder or Ahmaud Arbery’s case.

Floyd and Arbery, both African Americans, were killed in racist hate-crimes. The videos of their murders served as crucial evidence in bringing justice to their cases. George Floyd’s murder video was first shared on social media, which went viral, bringing attention to institutional racism in the US.

Others gave examples of how social media posts of the US Capitol rioters helped enforcement agencies catch the culprits.

Twitter says it taking a step to make the platform safer. Though it also adds, “Feeling safe on Twitter is different for everyone.”

What do you think of this new safety policy update? Let us know in the comments.