There is no silver bullet, but we will continue to
work to get it right.”
Perhaps no company has faced louder criticism
for its content policies than Twitter, Trump’s
social media platform of choice.
Faced with complaints that Trump is able
to post incendiary messages that would
otherwise be removed, Twitter has sought
a middle ground. Under a new policy
announced in June, tweets that the service
deems to involve matters of public interest,
but which violate its rules, will be obscured by
a warning explaining the violation. Users will
have to tap through the warning to see the
underlying message.
It’s a fine line that may not satisfy anyone.
Calling someone a “lowlife,” a “dog” or a
“stone cold LOSER,” as Trump has done, may
not by itself be a violation. But repeated
insults against someone might amount to
prohibited harassment.
Twitter said Trump’s recent tweets questioning
how people could live in a “disgusting” and
“rodent-infested” Baltimore didn’t violate its
rules on “dehumanizing language” targeted at
specific ethnic groups, as opposed to people
living in a given place.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Keegan
Hankes, research analyst for the Southern
Poverty Law Center’s intelligence project,
who focuses on far-right extremist propaganda.
But, he added, Twitter is essentially arguing
“that hate speech can be in the public interest.
I am arguing that hate speech is never in the
public interest.”