Twitter’s recent policy change, penalizing community members for sharing photos of each other without provided consent, has managed to completely backfire, leading to a review being conducted.
A statement from the microblogging social network this Wednesday stated that higher-ups entertained the notion of an internal review after what ended up being notable errors made in the rule’s enforcement. We’re going to take a look at exactly what errors led to this minor catastrophe. Spoiler alert: the conversation involves racists, supremacists, fascists, and all other forms of human ilk.
When the policy was announced, Twitter’s thoughts on the matter were that this would actively stopper doxing on the platform as a whole. Not to be ungenerous, but I have this amusing image in my mind of suits clapping each other on the back, shaking hands vigorously, saying “we did it! Our brand is problematic no more”! Cut to less than a week later, and while doxing may have taken a step back, racists decided to take ten to twenty steps forward, to the detriment of everyone else in the community. Yay, problem solved?
When the new policy was announced, certain anti-fascist networks on Twitter had already stated that such a vague policy would very clearly backfire. While racists always like to think that they’re the sole target of major doxing operations and being reported, the opposite is much more true. Anti-fascist groups such as Anonymous Comrades Collective predicted that the undefined policy laws would essentially make it so that when legitimate instances of calling out racists were discovered, i.e. people who are already heavily abusing Twitter’s community guidelines, then they would leave themselves vulnerable to being reported. Which is exactly what happened.
Members from hate groups and white supremacist organizations such as Q’Anon or the Proud Boys started reporting pages for violating Twitter’s doxing practices. A far right group by the name of the National Justice Party (wonder how they feel about Alexander Hamilton) actively listed 40 anti-fascist accounts, telling its 4000 followers to report them to the ground. The post even added in a gay slur, how very dignified of them.
Twitter’s policy change has actively empowered members of far right associations. This isn’t some southern trucker ranting about gun laws, these are…well, southern truckers and 14-year-old white boys that have been given the ability to stifle active attempts at curbing online racism and hatred. When Twitter couldn’t moderate its own community, anti-fascist groups stood up to help themselves. They’ve now been significantly nerfed in that regard.
H/T: TG.
Read next: Twitter’s New CEO to Focus on Streamlining and Efficiency
A statement from the microblogging social network this Wednesday stated that higher-ups entertained the notion of an internal review after what ended up being notable errors made in the rule’s enforcement. We’re going to take a look at exactly what errors led to this minor catastrophe. Spoiler alert: the conversation involves racists, supremacists, fascists, and all other forms of human ilk.
When the policy was announced, Twitter’s thoughts on the matter were that this would actively stopper doxing on the platform as a whole. Not to be ungenerous, but I have this amusing image in my mind of suits clapping each other on the back, shaking hands vigorously, saying “we did it! Our brand is problematic no more”! Cut to less than a week later, and while doxing may have taken a step back, racists decided to take ten to twenty steps forward, to the detriment of everyone else in the community. Yay, problem solved?
When the new policy was announced, certain anti-fascist networks on Twitter had already stated that such a vague policy would very clearly backfire. While racists always like to think that they’re the sole target of major doxing operations and being reported, the opposite is much more true. Anti-fascist groups such as Anonymous Comrades Collective predicted that the undefined policy laws would essentially make it so that when legitimate instances of calling out racists were discovered, i.e. people who are already heavily abusing Twitter’s community guidelines, then they would leave themselves vulnerable to being reported. Which is exactly what happened.
Members from hate groups and white supremacist organizations such as Q’Anon or the Proud Boys started reporting pages for violating Twitter’s doxing practices. A far right group by the name of the National Justice Party (wonder how they feel about Alexander Hamilton) actively listed 40 anti-fascist accounts, telling its 4000 followers to report them to the ground. The post even added in a gay slur, how very dignified of them.
Twitter’s policy change has actively empowered members of far right associations. This isn’t some southern trucker ranting about gun laws, these are…well, southern truckers and 14-year-old white boys that have been given the ability to stifle active attempts at curbing online racism and hatred. When Twitter couldn’t moderate its own community, anti-fascist groups stood up to help themselves. They’ve now been significantly nerfed in that regard.
Read next: Twitter’s New CEO to Focus on Streamlining and Efficiency