Twitter Tries Again to Explain Its Policy on Trump's Tweets, Only Makes Things Worse
One day after saying that it didn't remove Trump's retweets of far-right anti-Muslim propaganda because of a "legitimate public interest," CEO Jack Dorsey said that reasoning was a mistake.
But not because those tweets appear to violate Twitter's policies. No, it turns out the company just cited the wrong loophole in its policies.
On Wednesday Trump's ever popular Twitter account sparked a fresh controversy when the US president retweeted a series of anti-Muslim propaganda videos.
When pushed for comment on why the company wouldn't remove the tweets, which ostensibly violate the company's policies against hate speech and promoting violence, a Twitter spokesperson on Thursday directed CNN to a portion of its policy that states the following:
To help ensure people have an opportunity to see every side of an issue, there may be the rare occasion when we allow controversial content or behavior which may otherwise violate our Rules to remain on our service because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in its availability.
Today, though, Twitter admitted it got it wrong, saying its previous explanations had "caused some confusion.” The real reason it didn't take action on the videos has nothing to do with "public interest,” but the company’s rather vague media guidelines governing graphic content.
Under that policy, "some forms of graphic violence or adult content may be permitted in Tweets when they are marked as sensitive media.”
To clarify: these videos are not being kept up because they are newsworthy or for public interest. Rather, these videos are permitted on Twitter based on our current media policy.
https://t.co/RqEQy3skgc
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) December 1, 2017
The company didn't offer any further explanation about how it prioritizes policies that would appear to conflict with each other or how it determines what type of "sensitive media" is allowed on its platform. In a tweet, Dorsey said the company was "still looking critically at all our content policies."
We mistakenly pointed to the wrong reason we didn’t take action on the videos from earlier this week. We’re still looking critically at all of our current policies, and appreciate all the feedback. See our safety calendar for our plans and ship dates. https://t.co/yGytH3eskM
— jack (@jack) December 1, 2017
A Twitter spokesperson declined to elaborate.
Needless to say, though, this confusing explanation and then reversal didn't go over well with many Twitter users, who have already been sharply critical of the company's handling of Trump's Twitter account.
Source: Mashable.com
