USA: Twitter has announced new policies to crack down on "violent speech", declaring it will have "zero tolerance" for anyone who threatens or aggravates the harm of another person or group .

Specific exemptions will apply for situations involving sarcasm, jokes and certain types of "artistic expression".

As part of the policy change to "prevent the normalization of violent actions," the company made the decision public on Tuesday, noting that going forward, Twitter users can "threat, incite, glorify or desire violence or harm." Can't express."

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In a press release, it said that "for less serious violations," some accounts "may be temporarily locked." Still, it added that "in most cases, we will immediately and permanently suspend any account found to be in violation of this policy."

However, the new policy will also allow a number of exceptions, such as posts that are "exuberant and consensual" between friends or during "discussion of video games or sporting events" or posts that contain "any explicit abusive or violent reference."

The company continued by saying that it would "evaluate" all reported posts before taking action against users. It added, "We also allow certain cases of speech, satire or artistic expression, when the context is expressing a point of view rather than inciting actionable violence or harm."

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While Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter last October marked one of the first significant changes to the site's speech policies, the guidelines have evolved over time.

In 2018, Twitter banned speech "dehumanizing[s] anyone based on membership in an identifiable group, because that speech could cause harm offline", under the direction of Jack Dorsey, the platform's original owner and co-founder.

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After the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, it went further and banned users because of their "religion, race, age, disability, disease, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation". Attacking posts on the base banned. the following year. It later took additional steps to prevent violent posts.