Do you ever feel unsure about what to post on your Twitter account? What if one of your followers said something mean or disapproving? Or perhaps you just don’t understand Twitter sensitive content policy about what to share and how.
Even though much has changed since the days when we could only tweet 140 characters at a time, the rules around what you can post on Twitter are pretty much the same. But are these rules really clear, or do they have gray areas?
Due to a lack of information, many users are hesitant to post anything that might run afoul of the service’s guidelines, even if it’s just for the sake of humor or self-expression. This article explains everything you need to know about Twitter sensitive content policy, which content it allows and disallows, and why it matters.
What Is Twitter Sensitive Content Policy?
Twitter’s policy on sensitive content recognizes that people have different preferences when it comes to how they share information on the service. Some people prefer to keep all communications on Twitter private; others want the world to see everything they write. The service has a set of guidelines designed to recognize the many different types of content people may want to keep private. These include images, videos, links, and other forms of information that may be offensive or harmful to certain groups of people.
The purpose of the sensitive content policy is to inform users about accounts that share sensitive content and provide them with a way to block all communications that contain these types of materials. This can be helpful for users who want to avoid graphic images, videos or text that could be considered offensive.
Twitter’s policies on sensitive content allow users to control what they see in their timelines and accounts. These guidelines are designed to help you understand what types of content you can avoid under the sensitive content policy.
Why Is Twitter Sensitive Content Policy Important?
The policy explains why certain content is not allowed on the service and what situations are off-limits. It also lists the factors Twitter uses to determine if content is sensitive enough to ban. This helps users understand what type of content is acceptable on the service and how Twitter classification works.
What Are Some Examples Of Sensitive Content?
The service has a list of specific types of information that may be considered offensive or inappropriate for some audiences. These include:
- Nudity or pornography
- Graphic violence, including animal cruelty, human suffering, violent crimes, etc.
- Violent content related to death, severe physical harm, or content that is shared for sadistic purposes
- Offensive language, including hate speech and swearing
- Hateful imagery
Twitter’s policies on sensitive content cover all forms of communication posted on its service, including text, photos, videos and links. The policy also covers any user-generated photo filters that could violate this policy.
Can I share sensitive content?
Twitter doesn’t allow its users to put violent, hateful, or adult content within areas that are highly visible on Twitter, including in live video, profile, header, List banner images, or Community cover photos. You can’t share images or videos that depict violent sexual conduct or gratuitous gore on Twitter as well.
But, other sensitive content is allowed to be shared in your tweets. Twitter does not ban adult content. What you need to do is mark your account as sensitive.
Twitter requires that you allow people to decide whether they want to see your timeline when they encounter your account. The policy wants you to inform others before they view your content, so they can avoid it.
Do I have to mark my account as sensitive?
As mentioned above, if you share sensitive content highly visibly, you have to show people that your account includes sensitive content. You should allow others to know that your content is sensitive before they view your profile.
But you can share consensually produced adult content and graphic violence within your Tweets. This time, you have to mark your media as sensitive.
To do this, go to “Settings and Privacy” and mark pictures and videos you tweet as sensitive. You should adjust this setting if you will share sensitive content regularly.
What if I share just one tweet with sensitive image?
Let’s assume that you mostly tweet about football, and your followers know that they will view content about football when they visit your profile.
If you want to share adult content in a tweet (i.e., full or partial nudity, sexual intercourse, or pornography), you have to mark this tweet as sensitive before sharing.
According to Twitter’s policy, you must warn your followers about a tweet that contains adult images. So, your followers who don’t want to see such images will not be exposed without their knowledge.
To do this, after adding an image to your tweet, first click “Edit“, then the “Flag” icon, and mark your tweet with a category.
What if I tweet sensitive media without labeling it appropriately?
If you don’t mark your sensitive content, Twitter may take action against your account.
One way is to review your tweet if it is reported by someone else. If Twitter finds that the media wasn’t marked as being potentially sensitive, they may:
- label the media as being potentially sensitive
- remove the content
- change your settings to Mark media you Tweet as containing material that may be sensitive
If you repeatedly violate this rule, Twitter may permanently mark your account as sensitive.
Twitter also declares that they use automated techniques to detect and label potentially sensitive media, and to detect and label accounts that frequently tweet potentially sensitive media.
Conclusion
The most important thing you can do when deciding what to post on Twitter is to decide if the content is appropriate according to Twitter’s policy. If not, then stay away from it. Most social media platforms have some sort of policy regarding what you can and can’t post.
If you have any concerns about breaching Twitter’s rules, you can refrain from posting or make the necessary adjustments. But remember: you have a right to post anything on your account, and you should exercise that right within Twitter’s sensitive media policy.
