Twitter has announced the expansion of its private information policy to include the sharing of private media, such as photos and videos, without permission from the individuals that are depicted in them, as the social media platform aims to improve user privacy and security.
“Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person’s privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm, Twitter shared on a blog post.
The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities. When we receive a report that a Tweet contains unauthorized private media, we will now take action in line with our range of enforcement options.
Under its existing policy, publishing other people’s private information, such as phone numbers, addresses, and IDs, or threatening to expose a person’s private information and incentivising others to do so is already not allowed on Twitter.
The company took the opportunity to also outline the actions it would take when it is notified by individuals that they did not give permission to have their private image or video shared.