Twitter has something of a reputation for being rather lax when it comes to protecting its users from being harassed and otherwise abused by other users. However, it seems to be interested in changing this reputation, as shown by its introduction of new rules in November. Said rules can be summed up as Twitter going after users who are engaging in abusive behavior, with a particular emphasis on hate imagery, threats of violence, and the glorification of acts of violence. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that Twitter has stated its intent to take the users’ association with groups that encourage violence being committed on civilians into consideration. With that said, while these rules sound sweeping in nature, their real effect is reliant on Twitter’s enforcement of them.
What Accounts Were Purged By Twitter?
When Twitter started enforcing its new rules, the results were rather mixed in nature. For those who are curious, no more than a small number of users associated with the far right were banned, with examples ranging from Britain First to the League of the South. However, the curious part is that a lot of well-known figures associated with the far right were not banned, with examples ranging from David Duke and Richard Spencer to Nick Griffin. In one particularly curious case, Twitter banned an account associated with a racist fraternity but not the account associated with the founder of the racist fraternity, even though the second was more active than the first.
Summed up, it seems clear that Twitter isn’t cleaning house so much as going for something much more anemic. Even the idea that it might be using the banned accounts to send a message is rather questionable, seeing as how it banned some accounts associated with the far right while sparing others that were much more vitriolic in nature. As a result, its efforts have been less than satisfactory for both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum. For those who lean left, there is further proof that Twitter has no real interest in protecting its users from abusive behavior. In contrast, for those who lean towards the far right, this came as something of a letdown after a month of far right figures stirring fears that all of them would be banned.
Something that wasn’t helped by how the ban further cemented their beliefs that they were being targeted for their political beliefs because of how Twitter banned some accounts associated with them while sparing others that were much more vitriolic in nature. Curiously, the move by Twitter to ban some of these accounts seemed to have raised confidence in it from the market as shown by its rising stock prices, which prompted some to speculate that the move was intended as more of a marketing stunt than a genuine effort to protect users.
Whatever the case, most people have no real need to fear being banned by Twitter. In part, this is because Twitter isn’t going to go after them unless they are engaging in abusive behavior. However, this is also because Twitter isn’t exactly being that rigorous when it comes to the enforcement of its new rules, which is perhaps unsurprising considering its past behavior.
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