Twitter updates harmful conduct policy for links

As Twitter addresses harmful content on the platform shared via links, the platform outlines categories of links on which actions would be enforced to limit it's spread.

Twitter has also indicated what kind of harmful links would be curbed and actions will be enforced upon, in accordance with the severity of the issue, and the kind of links that violate the platform's rules.

Categories Of Links Defined As Harmful

• Malicious links or clickjacking links that contain or lead to malware or are attempts at phishing

• Misleading or deceptive links, including the ones that reach to an unknown or unexpected destination or are associated with platform manipulation campaigns

• Links to websites that feature content created by or are recruitment sites for terrorist organizations or violent extremist groups

• Links that feature media showing child sexual exploitation or identification of child survivors of sexual abuse

• Offers transactions or facilitates illegal goods or services, and certain types of regulated goods or services

• Hateful conduct against people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease

• Content that threatens violence against an individual or a group, or glorifies violence where people were targeted because of their membership in a protected group, or the perpetrators of such acts

• Private information or intimate media(nudity) posted without consent, authorization, and permission

• Misleading information about how to vote or register to vote, or content that interferes with civic and election integrity

• Content obtained through hacking that contains private information may put people in physical harm or danger or contains trade secrets

• Violent or misleading content that could lead to real-world harm in the aftermath of a crisis, which includes but is not limited to, manifestos associated with violent incidents or media that depict acts associated with a violent incident

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Factors Responsible For Identification Of Such Links

• Third-party vendors

• Collaborative information sharing with industry peers and NGO partners

• Internal technology and tools

• Reported Tweets

Actions

Actions enforced upon such links would be either placing a warning notice on a link or prevent them from being shared on Twitter.

Links with warning notices

Links with warning notices will also have limited visibility on the platform, but the notice can be clicked through by a user to view the third-part site.

Blocked links

A blocked link will show an error message if a user tries to include it in a Tweet or Direct Message, that reads "You can’t complete this action because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful. Please visit our Help Center to learn more".

Factors considered before enforcing an action:

• The source of the URL and Twitter's degree of certainty that the link is malicious or harmful. Links reviewed by Twitter may be blocked outright, a warning notice may be applied to links reported from third parties

• The severity of the website’s content

• Context and apparent intent of the link sharer. For instance, newsworthy links shared by journalists may be treated differently than if the link were shared by someone else

• Links to websites criticizing or commenting on content that violates our rules may be treated differently than links sharing the content straightforwardly or without commentary

• Links with commentary glorifying a violent incident may be treated differently than links expressing outrage about the same incident

Accounts sharing blocked content, or attempt to circumvent a block on the sharing a link, may be subjected to additional enforcement action which includes suspension of the account, most likely in cases that violate zero-tolerance policy.

Miscategorized Links

Miscategorized Links can be reported via this form. In the 'problematic link' field, please insert the extended URL of the link, rather than a shortened version.