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Twitter To Ban 'Hateful Display Names' With New Rules

Twitter has released a timetable showing when the new anti-abuse rules will take effect.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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New anti-abuse rules for Twitter will mean the end of "hateful display names," the company said on Thursday.

How this will work in practice still isn't clear. But the company has released a timetable of the upcoming rule changes, which will start to take effect next week.

On Oct. 27, Twitter will begin enforcing stricter actions to shut down accounts tweeting non-consensual nudity. Then on Nov. 3, the new rules will also crack down on violent groups and hateful imagery.

Accounts belonging to groups "that use violence to advance their cause" will be suspended, Twitter said in its Thursday post. Meanwhile, hateful imagery and symbols will be banned from avatars and profile headers.

The only question is which groups and hateful symbols will be affected by the new rules. So far, Twitter hasn't said.

That may spark more controversy for Twitter, which has tried to promote free speech while also combating abuse on the platform.

Twitter announced the new rules after it faced a one-day boycott last week for temporarily disabling the account of actress Rose McGowan, who was using the platform to call out sexual abuse claims in Hollywood.

Critics claimed that Twitter had unfairly applied its rules to silence a voice behind an important cause. In response, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said his company was going to take a stronger stance against sexual harassment and hate circulating on the platform. The company also intends to be more transparent over how Twitter enforces its rules.

"Far too often in the past we've said we'd do better and promised transparency but have fallen short in our efforts," Twitter said in its Thursday post explaining the timetable. "This is the first time we've shared this level of visibility into our work, and we hope it helps build trust along the way."

In addition to the rule changes, Twitter will incorporate a better process to help bystanders report abusive interactions on the platform. It'll also share examples of hateful imagery and symbols once the policy is finalized.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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