Twitter has recently clamped down even further on hate crime and abuse as it removes posts with derogatory connotations and suspends people who promote negativity and abuse on individuals and groups in society.
The one site that emphasised this idea of free speech seems to have taken a step back and changed its policies, but what does this mean for social media and the future of saying ‘anything’ we want online?
Free Speech is so Last Year
Twitter has been continuously criticised for not doing anything against those who abuse other users and share posts that could negatively influence their followers. It recently doubled its tweet’s character limit too, giving people the chance to express even more in their posts.
However, tweeting freely seems to have caused people legal problems, with people being taken to court because of the posts they’ve shared on Twitter. The social site has recently suspended political people because of their negative opinions against others.
A Change of Views
Twitter has changed and updates it policies that concern nudity, unwanted sexual advances, images and symbols that promote hate and any tweets that show violence in a positive light. Twitter will create internal tools that identify anything that the site deems inappropriate.
Shared pictures that are considered ‘intrusive’, ‘creepy’ or ‘non-consensual’ with be dealt with accordingly. It seems the social media site is looking out for the well-being of its users, rather than popularity with everyone. Any posts that could inspire violence or abuse will be removed, and if a person or group continues to break the rules, their account will be suspended permanently. Any users associated with violent groups, which encourage hate crime and abuse and try to further the cause will also be monitored and removed if found to be pushing their negative views onto others.
However, this rule will not apply to military or government groups or people promoting peaceful perspectives on their accounts.
A Look to the Future
It’ll come as no surprise that other social media sites will try to promote this idea of free speech in an aid to gain some sort of popularity. Social sites that have a lot less policies concerning posts will attract users who want to express all sorts of political and personal views. Nevertheless, it won’t be long until other sites take a leaf out of Twitter’s book. Facebook is constantly changing its privacy policies and has started looking at how the popularity of its site can benefit those struggling with mental health issues and searching for help.
The future of social media looks a lot more censored as it is a great benefit to the younger generations that are connecting to sites such as Twitter. The site has really been listening to what the people want – an increased character limit and censorship. The new rules will tackle hate speech and minimise the amount of abuse carried out on the site, which means we are entering a whole new era of social media – one which will be far more beneficial to those who are subject to cyber bullying and victimisation through hate crime and abuse.
