Twitter promising that it will take “less severe actions” when it comes to disciplining accounts that violate its rules; it will only suspend Twitter accounts that engage in “serious or persistent, repeated violations” of its rules. The company also said it will allow anyone to appeal the suspension starting February 1, and those who do will be assessed using updated standards.
What would Twitter do instead of suspending your account? “Less serious actions” are things that Twitter has been doing for years, such as limiting the visibility of a tweet or requiring users to delete a tweet before they can return to the site. The change today is that Twitter promises to reach those tools more often, instead of going straight to the ban button.
The company also said it is planning to be more transparent with its enforcement actions and will be rolling out some unspecified new features to support that next month. A possible example: CEO Elon Musk last year’s promise that Twitter will tell you when you’ve been “shadowbanned” and why.
Today, Twitter also appears to be justifying its decision to bring those people back to Twitter, saying it “does not reinstate accounts that engage in illegal activity, threats of harm or violence, spam large scale and manipulate the platform or when there are no recent complaints to recover the account. Which makes it pretty weird that Trump was allowed back in, because of that Twitter says in 2021 that it permanently suspended the former president “due to the risk of inciting further violence.” However, maybe that’s because – like the origin of the pardon policy – Trump was allowed back in because Elon wanted him back and decided to poll his own audience.
