Twitter Updates Policy on Hateful Conduct and Multiple Accounts

Twitter has revised their policy on “hateful conduct” and added a ban on multiple accounts.

The new policies were updated due to “extremists” who utilize Twitter to push their agenda. In the policy update, Twitter will no longer tolerate behavior intended to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence another user’s voice. In a blog post, they also mentioned that Twitter encourages diverse opinions and beliefs, but will take action on accounts that abuse the platform.

In April, Twitter’s policy stated that users could not promote or threaten violence. The new revision states, “You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.” Also, the new policy bans the use of multiple accounts that promote the same content or agenda. Extremists, for instance, evade being shut out completely by creating new accounts and just cross-referencing (and pushing) the same message on each of them. By the time Twitter has located and deleted one account, the extremist has already created three or four new pages.

What isn’t clear is how this new policy will affect legit businesses or individuals who promote. Oftentimes, promoters will create more than one account to push the same content. We wonder will this policy apply to these type of accounts as well.