Same rules about "sensitive content" apply to user accounts

Mar 9, 2017 22:19 GMT  ·  By

Some Twitter users have noticed a new feature the company is currently testing throughout the network where various accounts are flagged as potentially including "sensitive content." 

For instance, when you click on one of these profiles from a link on Twitter, or if you visit the profile's web page directly, their tweets will not immediately appear. Instead, there's a warning in place, reading "Caution: This profile may include sensitive content."

Mashable reports that when you click a link to the profile on Twitter, the message appears in a pop-up window. If, in turn, you visit the profile directly, the warning message is all you'll see until you agree to view the content by tapping "Yes, view profile," which appears on a button.

It seems this was noticed when the folks over at Mashable tried to view the profile of security analyst Justin Warren, but couldn't figure out why the messages were flagged since his tweets are pretty innocent, except for some swearing from time to time.

Same rules apply for tweets and accounts

Twitter claims that the new feature works similarly to how other sensitive content gets flagged on Twitter. Its page on sensitive media points out that the company permits content containing violence or nudity, but it does not allow pornography, excessive violence in live video, profile image or header image.

The microblogging platform further flags content if other users report certain tweets. If Twitter deems the content "sensitive," it will also label the account as such. Repeat offenders may get their account setting adjusted automatically.

There's also the fact that users can mark their own accounts as containing sensitive content from the Privacy and Safety settings page.

More and more users are tweeting about accounts they encounter to have this issue, so they can maybe fix it by reaching out to Twitter. Many are accusing Twitter of censorship, although this type of complaints have been growing quite a bit in recent months, especially as Twitter has announced that it would work more to enforce its rules against bullying, violence, harassment and so on.