Twitter changes its rules to ban 'hateful conduct'

Twitter has updated its rules in an attempt to crackdown on the amount of abuse its users are receiving. 

The latest update, announced in a blog post by trust and safety director Megan Cristina, says the company "will not tolerate" online behaviour that is intended to "harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence another user’s voice". It also includes a section on self-harm, for the first time.   

Twitter hopes that beefing up its rules will begin to put a stop to abusive behaviour, which has plagued the social media platform. In February Dick Costolo, the company's CEO at the time, said he was "frankly ashamed" and Twitter "sucked" at dealing with abuse and trolls.

The update sees the company strengthen the 'abuse' section of its rules, separating them from a combined 'abuse and spam section'.

"We believe in freedom of expression and in speaking truth to power, but that means little as an underlying philosophy if voices are silenced because people are afraid to speak up," the new Twitter rules say.

"In order to ensure that people feel safe expressing diverse opinions and beliefs, we do not tolerate behaviour that crosses the line into abuse, including behaviour that harasses, intimidates, or uses fear to silence another user’s voice," the rules continue.

A cached version of its previous rules, from December 27, does not include the statement and provides a blandly worded message on abuse

The previous rules also did not include the word hate or any policies around 'hateful conduct'. Twitter now says its users must not "promote violence" around "race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease." 

The updated policy also includes a new section on self-harm. Twitter says it will "take a number of steps" to assist those considering suicide or self-harm on its platform. It says it will reach out to the person, or provide resources such as the contact details of its mental health partners. 

It is at least the third update that the company has made to curb abuse and harassment on its service in 2015.

In February the social media giant said it had "streamlined" the process of reporting issues, and in April it said more direct action would be taken against violent threats.