ā Back to Twitter's Abusive Behavior revisions
See exactly what changed in Twitter's Abusive Behavior on 13 July 2023.
Overview
April 2023
June 2023
You may not share abusive content, harass someone, or encourage other people to do so.
On Twitter, you should feel safe expressing your unique point of view. We believe in freedom of expression and open dialogue, and in order to facilitate healthy dialogue on the platform, and empower individuals to express diverse opinions and beliefs, we prohibit behavior and content that harasses, shames, or degrades others. In addition to posing risks to peopleās safety, abusive behavior may also lead to physical and emotional hardship for those affected.
What is in violation of this policy?
Targeted harassment
We consider targeted behavior as malicious, unreciprocated, and intended to humiliate or degrade an individual(s). We prohibit the following behavior on the platform:
Posting multiple Tweets, over a short period of time, or continuously posting replies with malicious content, to target an individual. This includes accounts dedicated to harassing an individual or multiple individuals.
Mentioning or tagging users with malicious content.
Encouraging or calling for others to harass an individual or group of people
We prohibit behavior that encourages others to harass or target specific individuals or groups of people with abuse. This includes, but is not limited to: calls to target people with abuse or harassment online and behavior that urges offline action, such as physical harassment.
Unwanted Sexual Content & Graphic Objectification
While some consensual nudity and adult content is permitted on Twitter, we prohibit unwanted sexual conduct and graphic objectification that sexually objectifies an individual without their consent. This includes, but is not limited to:
sending someone unsolicited and/or unwanted adult media, including images, videos, and GIFs;
unwanted sexual discussion of someoneās body;
solicitation of sexual acts; and
any other content that otherwise sexualizes an individual without their consent.
Insults
We take action against the use of insults or profanity to target others. In some cases, such as (but not limited to) severe, repetitive usage of insults or profanity where the context is to harass or intimidate others, we may require Tweet removal. In other cases, such as (but not limited to) moderate, isolated usage of insults and profanity where the context is to harass or intimidate others, we may limit Tweet visibility as further described below. Please also note that while some individuals may find certain terms to be offensive, we will not take action against every instance where insulting terms are used.
Violent Event Denial
We prohibit content that denies that mass murder or other mass casualty events took place, where we can verify that the event occurred, and when the content is shared with abusive context. This may include references to such an event as a āhoaxā or claims that victims or survivors are fake or āactors.ā It includes, but is not limited to, events like the Holocaust, school shootings, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters.
Do I need to be the target of this content for it to be reviewed for violating the Twitter Rules?
To help our teams understand the context, we sometimes need to hear directly from the person being targeted to ensure that we have the necessary information prior to taking any enforcement action. Some Tweets may appear to be abusive or harassing when viewed in isolation, but may not be when viewed in the context of a larger conversation. When we review cases, it may not be clear whether the context is to abuse an individual, or if it is part of a consensual conversation.
What happens if you violate this policy?
When determining the penalty for violating this policy, we consider a number of factors including, but not limited to, the severity of the violation and an individualās previous record of rule violations. The following is a list of potential enforcement options for content that violates this policy:
Downranking Tweets in replies, except when the user follows the Tweet author.
Making Tweets ineligible for amplification in Top search results and/or on timelines for users who donāt follow the Tweet author.
To help our teams understand the context, we sometimes need to hear directly from the person being targeted to ensure that we have the necessary information prior to taking any enforcement action. Some Tweets may appear to be abusive or harassing when viewed in isolation, but may not be when viewed in the context of a larger conversation. When we review cases, it may not be clear whether the context is to abuse an individual, or if it is Excluding the Tweet from having ads adjacent to it
Making content on Twitter less visilbe on Twitter by:
Removing the Tweet from search results, in-product recommendations, trends, notifications, and home timelines
Restricting the Tweet's discoverability to the author's profile
Downranking the Tweet in replies
Restricting Likes, replies, Retweets, Quote Tweets, bookmarks, share, pin to profile, engagement counts, or Edit Tweet
Excluding the Tweet from having ads adjacent to it
Excluding Tweets and/or accounts in email or in-product recommendations.
Requiring Tweet removal.
For example, we may ask someone to remove the violating content and serve a period of time in read-only mode before they can Tweet again.
Suspending accounts for those whose sole purpose is to violate our Unwanted Sexual Content & Graphic Objectification policy, or accounts that are dedicated to harassing individuals.
Learn more about our range of enforcement options.
If someone believes their account was suspended in error, they can submit an appeal.