In its on-going battle to make its platforms safer, Twitter has announced that it will begin enforcing new community guidelines on both Twitter and its video streaming platform, Periscope. The new rules will come into effect on August 10th and will target the chat section during a live stream. If you’re found to be breaking rules (being abusive, etc) and your comment is reported it may mean that you get banned from speaking in the chat and repeated offences will lead to suspensions.
In its blog post on the matter, Twitter urges users to begin reporting abusive comments, saying:
“Our community can report and vote on chats they consider to be abusive, and group moderation determines if someone can continue chatting. Starting on August 10, we will also review and suspend accounts for repeatedly sending chats that violate the guidelines. If you are in a broadcast and see a chat that may violate our guidelines, please report it.”
These safety measures are just the latest in a string of actions the social media firm has taken. For example, this month it reported that it had removed 70 million fake accounts during May and June. It took this action in order to inhibit the spreading of misinformation by bots. Another action it took was to buy Smyte, which specialises in online safety, fighting spam, and increasing users’ security. These are just a handful of the actions Twitter has taken in recent month to improve its network.
If you use Twitter or Periscope and want to familiarise yourself with the new ground rules, the community guidelines have been published on the Periscope website and are written in a way that they are easy for anyone to read.
Let us know in the comments what you think about Twitter’s latest decision.