There are growing concerns about the misuse of media and information as a “weapon to harass, threaten, and reveal the identities” of people, according to Twitter.

Twitter outlawed the distribution of private media without permission in its first major policy change, a day after Parag Agrawal took over as CEO. Twitter stated in its recent policy update that there are rising worries about the usage of media and information as a “weapon to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities” of individuals. Given the potential for personal media, such as photographs or videos, to infringe on a person’s privacy, Twitter said that it will henceforth take action if a Tweet contains illegal private media.

“Publication of other people’s private information, such as phone numbers, addresses, and IDs, is already prohibited under Twitter’s current policy. This includes threatening or encouraging individuals to provide private information “It was stated.

“While our existing rules and Twitter Rules cover specific instances of abusive behavior, this update will enable us to take action on media that is shared without any explicit abusive content, as long as it is posted without the agreement of the individual depicted,” Twitter explained.

‘Policy does not apply to public figures,’ Twitter said.

Users are prohibited from sharing media of private individuals without the permission of the person(s) depicted,’ according to the new regulation, which is part of the company’s ‘private information policy.’ The social media company also noted that if persons depicted, or an authorized representative, alerted it that they did not consent to their private photograph or video being posted, the post in question would be removed.

“When media and accompanying Tweet content are posted in the public interest or provide value to public dialogue,” it emphasised, “this policy is not apply to media featuring public entities or individuals.” However, Twitter stated that if the objective of disseminating private photographs of public figures was to “harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence them,” it would remove the content in accordance with its anti-abusive behavior policy.

“We recognize that there are instances where account holders may share photos or videos of private individuals in an effort to help someone involved in a crisis, such as after a violent incident, or as part of an important social media event. Where content is shared and, in such cases, we may allow photos or videos to remain in the service, “it stated.