Twitter on Wednesday made some changes to its rules for user behavior to make it clear that the microblogging site frowns heavily on posting nude or sexual photos of third parties without their consent.
The changes on the company's "Twitter Rules" page were made sometime before 6 p.m. ET, Buzzfeed reported.
Text was added to sections concerning "private information" and "threats and abuse." Buzzfeed reported that additional rules were added at the end of the sections transcribed below, with the added text in italics:
Private information: You may not publish or post other people's private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission. You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent.
Threats and abuse: Users may not make direct, specific threats of violence against others, including threats against a person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, or disability. In addition, users may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent.
Twitter's new approach to dealing with online nastiness like revenge porn and sharing pilfered celebrity nudes may have taken shape after Reddit last month clarified its policy on revenge porn and stolen nudes in an exchange with Buzzfeed.
Last fall, the Internet was rocked with the appearance of stolen, nude photos of celebrities on imageboards and sites like Reddit, which eventually banned a major subreddit promoting the distribution of the photos.
Meanwhile, prominent purveyors of revenge porn have in recent months been embroiled in various legal difficulties. Hunter Moore, the infamous proprietor of the now-defunct isanyoneup.com, last month pleaded guilty to hacking and identity theft charges brought against him by federal prosecutors.
And in January, the Federal Trade Commission banned revenge porn website operator Craig Brittain from posting risqué images of people without their consent, and ordered him to destroy the content he collected while operating revenge-porn sites like the now-defunct isanybodydown.com.