Twitter is working on a warning system based on its hate speech policies and broader Twitter Rules document. According to Twitter, this new warning system is going to be a message that will appear whenever Tweeters are going to post their comment that might contain content that goes against Twitter’s policies.
Through this warning message, Twitter will prompt the user to rephrase or re-think about posting that inappropriate comment or post before it is too late.
Social Media wars are nothing new. People get triggered and start spewing venom all over these platforms all the time. However, once, when they cool down and review their hateful posts, they get ashamed and then they try to delete their published posts quickly or issue public apologies.
Many celebrities, politicians, and important figures all over the world do such silly things more often than we think. And it all happens because they do not think before firing! In the heat of the moment, they do not pause for a bit and think how their hateful posts or replies or comments can and will affect the other person, or their own followers.
So, to address this issue, Twitter has decided to experiment with a warning message that will make users review their content before tweeting it away and get embarrassed or bashed later, or worse, get banned on Twitter!
This experiment is going to show up for iOS users for the time being only. The prompts are most likely going to be based on the speech policies of Twitter. These messages will not mean that people cannot post what they want. Of course, Twitter is not snatching the right to “freedom of expression” from anyone. Rather, it is only working towards maintaining decorum and decency while posting stuff on its platform.
Twitter’s hate speech policies and broader rules consider threats, abuse, violent content, and terrorism-related content as something extremely offensive, and rightfully so. People who post such stuff that directly violates Twitter’s policies are instantly banned, and this is a fair move.
However, this new warning message will not address these violations. It will only guide users to use appropriate language in their posts. So, this new change is basically judging through language, rather than the content. Hence, Twitter is right to think that it does not take away the users’ freedom of speech.
This is not a novel idea. Last year, Instagram also made some changes in its policies and it also started issuing a gentle warning message to the users before they write their captions or post their comments.
This a good feature actually. People think that since they are not doing something verbally, they can write anything they want on social media. They hardly think about the consequences of their typed words or posts. They do not even consider the sentiments of other people before posting their content, using as much foul, hateful language as they wish.
So, it is necessary to give them a “food for thought” before they shoot away on these online platforms.
It is not like anyone is stopping them; they can still post whatever they can, but Twitter thinks that maybe, some users will stop and think with this warning message, and this might make a difference!
Read next: Twitter Boasts 166 million Monetizable Daily Active Users
Featured Photo: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Through this warning message, Twitter will prompt the user to rephrase or re-think about posting that inappropriate comment or post before it is too late.
Social Media wars are nothing new. People get triggered and start spewing venom all over these platforms all the time. However, once, when they cool down and review their hateful posts, they get ashamed and then they try to delete their published posts quickly or issue public apologies.
Many celebrities, politicians, and important figures all over the world do such silly things more often than we think. And it all happens because they do not think before firing! In the heat of the moment, they do not pause for a bit and think how their hateful posts or replies or comments can and will affect the other person, or their own followers.
So, to address this issue, Twitter has decided to experiment with a warning message that will make users review their content before tweeting it away and get embarrassed or bashed later, or worse, get banned on Twitter!
This experiment is going to show up for iOS users for the time being only. The prompts are most likely going to be based on the speech policies of Twitter. These messages will not mean that people cannot post what they want. Of course, Twitter is not snatching the right to “freedom of expression” from anyone. Rather, it is only working towards maintaining decorum and decency while posting stuff on its platform.
Twitter’s hate speech policies and broader rules consider threats, abuse, violent content, and terrorism-related content as something extremely offensive, and rightfully so. People who post such stuff that directly violates Twitter’s policies are instantly banned, and this is a fair move.
However, this new warning message will not address these violations. It will only guide users to use appropriate language in their posts. So, this new change is basically judging through language, rather than the content. Hence, Twitter is right to think that it does not take away the users’ freedom of speech.
When things get heated, you may say things you don't mean. To let you rethink a reply, we’re running a limited experiment on iOS with a prompt that gives you the option to revise your reply before it’s published if it uses language that could be harmful.— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) May 5, 2020
This is not a novel idea. Last year, Instagram also made some changes in its policies and it also started issuing a gentle warning message to the users before they write their captions or post their comments.
This a good feature actually. People think that since they are not doing something verbally, they can write anything they want on social media. They hardly think about the consequences of their typed words or posts. They do not even consider the sentiments of other people before posting their content, using as much foul, hateful language as they wish.
So, it is necessary to give them a “food for thought” before they shoot away on these online platforms.
It is not like anyone is stopping them; they can still post whatever they can, but Twitter thinks that maybe, some users will stop and think with this warning message, and this might make a difference!
Read next: Twitter Boasts 166 million Monetizable Daily Active Users
Featured Photo: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
