Twitter has implemented a lot of changes since Elon Musk acquired it and took charge. While some of the new features and policies don't sit right with users who have been around way before Musk's takeover, the company's newest update might just be a good thing.
Branded for Hateful Misconduct
The social media platform restricts the visibility of a tweet when it has been flagged for violating Twitter rules. From here on out, a label will appear on the tweet to indicate whether or not restriction has been applied due to the said violations.
The label states: "Visibility limited: this tweet may violate Twitter's rules against hateful conduct." Soon enough, the company will add more labels to specify which rules the tweet defied. The additional labels will arrive in the coming months.
Some may think that this goes against the Twitter CEO's repeatedly mentioned vision of "free speech," which is why in a tweet, it was clarified that it was not censorship nor shadowbanning, but merely a limitation of reach.
It was also stated that the action will only affect the flagged tweet and not the user's account. This adds an option for actions to take on potentially harmful tweets, as opposed to only deciding between leaving the tweet as is or taking it down.
If the author of the tweet believes that have not broken any rules, they can submit feedback on the label. Twitter will soon add an option for the authors to appeal the decision to limit the visibility of the tweet if they believe that it has been wrongfully flagged.
This, however, does not apply to tweets that are illegal in nature. Content that violates the law will still be removed and the users who post them may still be suspended from the platform. This is part of the company's approach to more transparent enforcement actions.
We’re adding more transparency to the enforcement actions we take on Tweets. As a first step, soon you’ll start to see labels on some Tweets identified as potentially violating our rules around Hateful Conduct letting you know that we’ve limited their visibility. 🧵…
— Safety (@Safety) April 17, 2023
Variations of Enforcement
Restricting the reach of a tweet comes with different kinds of enforcement. For one, flagged tweets will be excluded from search results, as well as the For You and Following timelines. It will also be hidden in the profile of the author.
It will be downranked in replies, meaning that there's no possibility of it appearing at the top. Other interactions will also be restricted such as replies, retweets, quote tweets, bookmarks, or share. The user won't be able to pin in it their profile.
Other than that, it will be excluded from being near any ads starting on April 2023. If the violation is severe enough, the author will be advised to remove it. Otherwise, the users cannot tweet until the post is taken down.
When another user reports a tweet, the author of the flagged tweet will not be able to send a direct message to the participant. The reporter will have to engage in the conversation first in order for the reporter to send messages.
If a user continues to violate the Twitter rules, their account could potentially be placed on a read-only mode, as well as the ability to retweet or like other posts. Twitter could also require them to verify their account ownership.
