Twitter To Take 'Less Severe Action' Against Rules-Violating Accounts

Twitter said it will continue to work on launching features that transparently identify when it has taken enforcement actions.

Twitter said it has been proactively reinstating previously suspended accounts.

Elon Musk-run Twitter announced it will take "less severe actions" against user accounts that break its rules, asking them to remove controversial tweets and move on. The company said it will only suspend Twitter accounts that engage in "severe or ongoing, repeat violations" of its rules. "Going forward, we will take less severe actions, such as limiting the reach of policy-violating Tweets or asking you to remove Tweets before you can continue using your account," the micro-blogging platform said.

Account suspension will be reserved for severe or ongoing, repeat violations of our policies, it added.

Severe violations include but are not limited to engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, privacy violations, platform manipulation or spam, and engaging in targeted harassment of users.

Twitter said it has been proactively reinstating previously suspended accounts.

"Starting February 1, anyone can appeal an account suspension and be evaluated under our new criteria for reinstatement," said Twitter.

The company said it did not reinstate accounts that engaged in illegal activity, threats of harm or violence, large-scale spam and platform manipulation, or when there was no recent appeal to have the account reinstated.

Twitter said it will continue to work on launching features that transparently identify when we have taken enforcement actions "and expect to begin rolling these out in February".

Meanwhile, a new whistleblower has reportedly revealed that privacy violations and data security infringements continued unabated under the regime of Twitter's new CEO Elon Musk. The whistleblower has informed US Congress that privacy lapses were allowed despite knowing that they could result in potential legal risks and actions, including strict penalties. 

In a complaint filed by the whistleblower in mid-October last year, a maximum of 4,000 company employees were allowed to access an internal function nicknamed "GodMode," according to a report by Bloomberg. The allegations are that they were allowed to use this system, which allows them to have control over private Twitter accounts. It also means that they could delete or post anything from such Twitter handles. 

Just two weeks after the complaint was filed, Elon Musk became the company CEO, and it remains unclear whether the issue was settled later on or not.

The US Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and members of Congress received the complaint, which says that the micro-blogging platform did not have the capability to log the users of GoMode. It said, "Twitter does not have the capability to log which, if any, engineers use or abuse GodMode."

Following the filing of the complaint, multiple executives overseeing the cybersecurity, privacy-related matters, and legal compliance issues have quit the organisation.

The anonymous whistleblower was working at Twitter as an engineer during the time of filing the complaint. However, the person is no longer employed at the company.

(With inputs from IANS)