According to the company, under the new criteria, Twitter accounts will only be suspended for severe or ongoing and repeat violations of the platform's policies. Severe policy violations include engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, and engaging in targeted harassment of other users, among others.
Twitter said that going forward, it will take less severe action, in comparison to account suspension, such as limiting the reach of tweets that violate its policies or asking users to remove tweets before continuing to use the account.
In December, Musk came under fire for suspending accounts of several journalists over a controversy on publishing public data about the billionaire's plane. He later reinstated the accounts.
Meanwhile, months after the controversial Twitter takeover by Elon Musk, the social media platform’s co-founder expresses that the tech billionaire might not be the best fit for the company. ‘Improvements to morale and content policies at the business have been reversed’ since the new proprietor joined the company.
Noting that Musk has literally unwound the positive changes brought in the recent year, Biz Stone told the Guardian, running social media companies is “not really a win-win situation … it’s always tough", because “50% of the people are gonna be happy, 50% of people are gonna be upset with you".
He added, “It doesn’t seem like it right now, but I could be wrong." Since the Twitter takeover, Musk has been criticised for his decisions including massive lay-offs, harsh monitisation strategies, reinstating previously banned account etc.
Hinting in particular about how content policies have changed, Stone said, “We made a lot of improvements in those areas. And that’s all gone now."
Stone, who co-founded Twitter in 2006 with Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass and Evan Williams, returned to the business in 2017 at the behest of thenchief executive Dorsey to “guide the company culture, that energy, that feeling".
(With inputs from Reuters)
