Twitter takes a new approach by asking Arabic speakers for feedback on a new abuse-related policy

The Twitter Rules apply to everyone who uses Twitter. In the past, we’ve created our rules with a rigorous policy development process; it involves in-depth research and partnership with the members of our Trust and Safety Council and other experts to ensure these policies best serve every person on the service. Now, we’re trying something new by asking everyone for feedback on a policy before it’s part of the Twitter Rules.

For the last three months, we have been developing a new policy to address dehumanizing language on Twitter. Language that makes someone less than human can have repercussions off the service, including normalizing serious violence. Some of this content falls within our hateful conduct policy (which prohibits the promotion of violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease), but there are still Tweets many people consider to be abusive, even when they do not break our rules. Better addressing this gap is part of our work to serve a healthy public conversation.

With this change, we want to expand our hateful conduct policy to include content that dehumanizes others based on their membership in an identifiable group, even when the material does not include a direct target. Research shows that dehumanization is associated with offline harm because it makes violence against others feel more acceptable.

We want your feedback to ensure we consider global perspectives and how this policy may impact different communities and cultures. The responses will be anonymous.

All Arabic speakers are invited to submit their responses via Twitter MENA’s Arabic blog here. It will be available until Tuesday, October 9, at 4:00pm KSA. Once the feedback form has closed, we will continue with our regular process, which passes through a cross-functional working group, including members of our policy development, user research, engineering, and enforcement teams. We will share some of what we learn when we update the Twitter Rules later this year.