Users Abuse Twitter’s New Image Policy to Get Accounts Wrongfully Suspended, Shocking No One

Well, that went about the way everyone expected it would.

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Photo by Chris J. Davis

Twitter’s brand-new policy regarding media depicting third parties is already running into a few snafus, and in the form of the Internet’s favorite ne’er do well: The troll.

Who is trolling whom in this case? As you may or may not be aware, Twitter’s new photo and video policy states that, if you don’t have someone’s permission to post their image to the service, it can be taken down.

If that isn’t pretty hardcore, we don’t know what is. Ostensibly aimed at curbing bullying, misinformation, and a host of other social media ills, the policy is perhaps one of the most heavy-handed and clumsily implemented out there. Why? Because, as aforementioned trolls are wont to do, it’s already getting abused and it is leading to the wrongful suspension of some accounts as a consequence.

Engadget reports that the majority of the bogus reports were largely targeted for political purposes with journalists and anti-extremism researchers caught up in the mix. Twitter is currently reversing these bans and has since clarified that pictures that “offer value to the public discourse” are permitted though, again, it’s not really clear what the distinction is between that and what the policy literally states.

Perhaps a little bit of a change in language or tact might be appropriate in this case. Either way, it would help if everyone was on the same page as to what was being banned and why so we can propose changes.

What do you think of Twitter’s new image policy? Was it only a matter of time before it was exploited and abused? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Check out some of our other photography news on Light Stalking at this link right here.

[Engadget]

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Kehl is our staff photography news writer since 2017 and has over a decade of experience in online media and publishing and you can get to know him better here and follow him on Insta.

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