Twitter CEO responds to #WomenBoycottTwitter, says new rules to crack down on online harassment
Jack Dorsey said the company had been working over the past few months to take a stricter stance against silencing of voices on the social media platform.
Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey on Saturday said the company would roll out new rules to take a more aggressive stance against the silencing of voice on the social media platform. Dorsey’s comments were in reply to the #WomenBoycottTwitter trend that started after several women users decided to boycott the social media platform on Friday for suspending the account of Hollywood actor Rose McGwan, one of the many who have accused film producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.
“We see voices being silenced on Twitter every day,” Dorsey said in a series of tweets, adding that the company had updated its policies to counteract the situation. “It wasn’t enough. Today, we saw voices silencing themselves and voices speaking out because we’re still not doing enough.”
Dorsey said the team was working intensely over the past few months to take a stricter stand against the silencing of voices. He said Twitter would take action against those whose post were related to unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual nudity and glorifying violence.
“New rules around: unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual nudity, hate symbols, violent groups, and tweets that glorifies violence. These changes will start rolling out in the next few weeks,” he said.
On Instagram, McGowan had posted a screenshot of the message she had received from Twitter, which asked her to “delete tweets that violate our rules”. The social media platform, already accused of being unable to check abuse, especially against women, drew severe criticism for the move. Many users expressed their anger and asked for their accounts to be suspended.
In a statement, Twitter tried to justify its decision, saying McGowan’s account was temporarily locked because she had tweeted a private phone number, which was against the company’s conditions. “We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future...Twitter is proud to empower and support the voices on our platform, especially those that speak truth to power.”