New Rule Added in Twitter’s Privacy Policy to Take Down Personal Photos and Videos: News

On Tuesday, 30 Nov 2021, Twitter announced that According to their new rule, People can request to take down their personal Photos and Videos from the platform if that has been posted without their consent. This rule is added just after the new CEO, Parag Agrwal has been assigned after co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey announced that he is leaving the position.

Twitter has mentioned that Sharing any personal information on twitter can potentially violate a person’s privacy. Till now, sharing personal information like Phone Number, IDs, and Address were not allowed on Twitter under existing policy. Twitter also mentions that There are “Growing Concern”  regarding the use of content that is sharing the person’s personal information on platform and can be used to ‘Harass’, ‘Intimidate’ and Reveal the identities of individuals.

Let’s take a look at what has been added in the extended private media policy of Twitter.

1. Any Information or media that belongs to Home address including GPS location and physical address or other information that can contain a person's location.
2. Any personal Identity documents like Government-Issued IDs or other social identity numbers or IDs.
3. Person’s personal contact like Phone numbers, Email addresses
4. Information regarding Bank Account & Credit/Debit card details.
5. Except for these few other informations like Biometric and Medical details.
6. Media like Photos & Videos of private individuals without permission and consent.

Point number 6 is the new rule added in the new policy. But there are few conditions in this case in which these rules may be compromised by Twitter. “Does this mean that if I take a picture of, say, a concert in Central Park, I need the permission of everyone in it?” When this question arrived then Jeff Jarvis, journalism professor answered that “We diminish the sense of the public to the detriment of the public.”

Let’s look at some exceptions when it comes to applying this rule that is mentioned by Twitter.

This policy is only for private users and not applicable on "public figures or individuals.“ Also, content may remain on the platform in such cases if it has been covered by the Media or a big public personality & That adds value and is shared for public interest, or is relevant to the community. “This policy is not applicable to media featuring public figures or individuals when media and accompanying Tweet text are shared in the public interest or add value to public discourse.”- officially published by Twitter.

Then how will you apply it and use it to take down your private picture and videos from the platform. When Twitter is notified by Individuals depicted, or any other authorized representatives that the consent has not been taken for that private picture and video then it will be removed. “When private information or media has been shared on Twitter, we need a first-person report or a report from an authorized representative in order to make the determination that the image or video has been shared without their permission.” Twitter mentioned this statement on their official Blog Post. 

You can read more about privacy from twitter’s official Blog Post.