Twitter recently expanded its private information policy to include private media, thus prohibiting the sharing of photos and videos without express permission from the individuals depicted in them and this is aimed at curbing doxxing and harassment.
The company’s Safety team said in a tweet “Beginning today, we will not allow the sharing of private media, such as images or videos of private individuals without their consent. Publishing people’s private info is also prohibited under the policy, as is threatening or incentivizing others to do so,” .
The policy discouraged sharing of information like sign-in credentials which could enable malicious actors gain access to sensitive information without their authorization. Social media users also have the ability to request the taking down of pictures or videos featuring them with a clearly abusive intent. Users who contravene the private information policy twice will risk permanent suspension of their accounts.
Twitter also clarified that multimedia content that shows public figures or individuals participating in large events like protests and sporting events would not violate this policy, adding it doesn’t consider people’s names and dates of birth; descriptions of physical appearance; accusations, and allegations; and screengrabs of posts and messages taken from other platforms as private unless they contain details such as a phone number.
With the growing concern about misuse of media and information, sharing peoples personal media can potentially violate a persons privacy and lead to emotional or physical harm. Hence the need for policies like this to stem the trend.