Twitter details forthcoming measures to fight harassment on its platform
By Robin-Leigh Chetty 20 October 2017 | Categories: newsFor the past few weeks, Twitter has come under fire for failing to handle issues of sexual harassment on its platform. All of these incidents came to a head with the recent allegations levelled against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, and Twitter's poor handling of the suspension of actress Rose McGowan's account.
Following the incident, Twitter's Jack Dorsey said the company would be taking greater steps to enforce more stringent measures of anti-abuse on its platform.
Now, we have a clearer idea of how Twitter plans to do so, with the company releasing a calendar of steps it will be taking over the next four months. The steps total more than two dozen in all, according to Wired, which obtained a copy of an internal Twitter email before this recent information was made public.
Spread out between 27 October to 10 January next year, the measures include both changes to current Twitter rules and regulations, along with the introduction of new ones. Examples of these include the company's revision of unwanted sexual advances, with them explicitly convening the platform's rules now. Twitter will also update its policy when it comes to hate symbols or imagery, which extends to their use in one's profile or header too. Additions to the policies also include the inability for users to have hateful display names, as well as a smarter method for users to report incidents of abuse.
Whether or not these rules changes and review process will yield the desired result remains to be seen, with Twitter still struggling to enforce all the rules and regulations for its platform in a timely basis. That said, it appears the company is well aware of the problems that plague its service, and are hopefully taking the right steps to address them.
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