Spotlight: Twitter Updates Photo Privacy Policy

by Naomi Bang ‘23

Twitter introduced a new photo removal policy designed to protect users’ privacy and prevent people from publishing private images or videos without consent. This update is in response to increasing concerns over media misuse as a tool to harass or share information about individuals without consent. But the vague guidelines of the policy have sparked confusion and controversy with some people questioning how realistic it is to enforce.

“Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person’s privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm,” said Twitter in a blog post. “The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities.”

Twitter’s existing privacy policy prohibits sharing other personal information such as phone numbers, addresses, or identity documents on their platform. Under their new procedures, the company requires a first-person report from the offended individual or an “authorized representative.” Twitter will then remove the image or video only once they determine that the reported media was posted without permission. In some cases, Twitter may choose not to remove an image after assessing the context of the post.

The company will make exceptions for media posted under circumstances that outweigh potential safety risks for an individual. This includes images and videos that are part of a newsworthy event, provide aid during an emergency situation, or are relevant to the community by adding “value to public discourse.”

Twitter will not remove any media that it deems to fit these characteristics. Since the main goal of this update is to protect the privacy of average citizens, the removal policies do not apply to public figures like celebrities or politicians.

While some activists believe the change is a positive step against online harassment and abuse, others feel it will be impractical to enforce consistently. “[The rule is] written so broadly that most anyone can lodge a complaint against anyone,” tweeted Emerson T. Brooking, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.

Critics are concerned the changes will grant Twitter too much discretion in determining which posts to remove or not. “I don’t like the idea of journalism being sort of an exception that can be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis,” said independent journalist and filmmaker Ford Fischer. “I think there should probably be a presumption of, you know, it is right and proper to film things in public places … I don’t want it to be based on a reasonableness test that comes from a Twitter moderator.”