Twitter has introduced new rules to consolidate the privacy of its users. The development comes a day after Parag Agrawal replaced Jack Dorsey as the new CEO of Twitter.
Under the revised rules, Twitter has barred users from sharing photos and videos of other people on the microblogging platform without their consent. These rules will not be applicable to public figures.
Twitter has also decided to allow people, other than public figures, to ask the company to take down their photos and videos shared without their permission.
In an official statement, Twitter said that:
Sharing images and videos are an important part of users’ experience on Twitter. People should have a choice in deciding whether or not their private media is shared publicly. To that end, the company has decided to expand the scope of its private information policy. The policy update will help curb the misuse of media to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of private individuals, which disproportionately impacts women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities.
Twitter has already prohibited users from sharing the address, identity documents, contact information, financial account information, and other private information, including biometric data and medical records, of people without their consent.
The company also barred users from threatening to publicly expose someone’s private information, sharing information that would enable individuals to hack someone’s private information, and asking for a financial reward in exchange for posting or not posting someone’s private information.