Twitter's Updated "Zero Tolerance" Violent Speech Policy Prohibits "Wishing to Harm" and Incitement to War Crimes or Genocide

Property of Elon Musk, seeking to reassure users and advertisers that it adopts an uncompromising stance against violent speech, issued an update to its policies that more explicitly prohibits certain types of threats.

According to the , published on February 28, Twitter users "cannot wish, hope or express a desire for harm. This includes (but is not limited to) the hope that others will die, suffer illnesses, tragic incidents, or suffer other physically harmful consequences. Previously, these "wishes to harm" were not subject to prosecution under the company's Violent Threats Policy, which was last updated in March 2019.

In addition, Twitter's violent speech policy update prohibits "inciting others to commit atrocities, including crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide", which also includes the use of coded language (aka "dog whistles") to indirectly incite violence In addition, the updated policy - in addition to prohibiting threats to physically harm another - also prohibits threatening "to damage civilian homes and shelters, or infrastructure essential to daily, civic or business operations."

Users who violate Twitter's violent speech "in most cases" will be immediately and permanently suspended , according to the company. For less serious violations, the company may require a user to remove the infringing content before they can access their account again.

“[S]ound conversations cannot thrive when violent speech is used to convey a message Twitter's policy on violent speech says so. "As a result, we have a zero-tolerance policy towards violent speech to keep our users safe and prevent the normalization of violent actions."

Twitter has come under fire for reported increases in hate speech appearing on the service since the mogul the multibillion-dollar tech bought the last fall (allegations Musk has denied).

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