Slashdot Mirror
Twitter Bans 'Hateful Conduct' (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Twitter has updated their site rules to prohibit "behavior intended to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence another user's voice." According to the new rules, "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." This follows criticism that Twitter (and other social networks) haven't done enough to prevent the ramblings of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups. "Tuesday's announcement did not disclose changes to Twitter's enforcement strategy. A company spokesman declined to say if any were in the works. The new rules also said that Twitter might respond to reports that somebody is considering 'self-harm' by contacting the person to express concern and provide contact information to mental health practitioners."
"on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease"
I don't see "political views" listed there. Also,
"You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people"
This is not a political viewpoint. Kill them is never a political viewpoint, its an irrational response to irrational actions. What you said is cute but ultimately incorrect and highly misleading. Should we advocate killing you for it? Of course not, that would be irrational.
Should Twitter have such a policy in place? Honestly it smacks of censorship. Being an American, even though I do not care for such speech, I do believe they have the right to say such things. Hiding them, punishing them for them, only serves to make them appear the victim, to appear repressed, and to sway others to their side when they complain about it. It is better to let them spew their hatred and turn others away with the obviousness of it rather than hiding it.
Oh, wow, so no more "Kill All Men" hashtag or "I Drink Male Tears" images? Because those are pretty damned hateful, even though it's apparently socially acceptable to hate men in a way that it's not for women...
(Whisper, Whisper)
Oh, that's still ok? Huh. Well, at least, no more "Men are the source of all school shootings in the world" type posts, right? Because that's a bigoted, ignorant, statement that ignores...
(Whisper, Whisper)
Huh. Well, ok, then at least they're going to block ISIS accounts and the people perpetuating the fake "Max Temkin is a Rapist" hate-crime posts, right? Because the former is a ltieral terrorist organization and the latter is a discredited hoax that people are using to try and destroy someone whose only crime is he's young, male, and heterosexu... 0000%#N$! NO CARRIER
You have been blocked for Thoughtcrime against the Party, please delete your posts to be allowed back in.
All this is going to do is give the psychotic misandric and racist losers (the so called "Social Justice Warriors," the left-wing authoritarian hate-mob that has infested the Liberals in the US) an in so they can continue to use bots to mass-report dissenting opinions and get them banned. They're already doing so, this just codifies it as official Twitter policy.
Just because the minority who thinks being a SJW is a good thing is very loud, louder than the rest of the world, that doesn't make them a majority.
...in these comments.