https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/twitter-changes-hateful-conduct-policy-rcna80338
Twitter sparked backlash this week after some users noticed it had quietly removed language in its hateful conduct policy that explicitly protected transgender people from online harassment.
The social media platform had prohibited the targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender people since 2018. Some online noticed this month that the sentence had been plucked from Twitters section on slurs and tropes, while all other descriptions of policy violations remained intact.
Archives captured by the Wayback Machine showed the previous version still existed April 7, the day Twitter announced it had updated its abuse and harassment policy to redefine targeted harassment. But by the next day, the line had disappeared.
The advocacy group GLAAD condemned the move in a statement Tuesday, calling it the latest in a series of changes that have made the platform less safe for people and advertisers.
Twitters hateful conduct policy protected trans people from targeted misgendering and deadnaming for close to five years, and now they mysteriously removed it without a word, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. This is unacceptable in any climate, and doubly unacceptable when you look at the barrage of disinformation and hate about trans people from right wing media personalities, politicians, and the extremists they bolster.
Its unclear whether the change in language constitutes any change in the policy itself. As of Tuesday, Twitters report function still allows users to report a tweet for misgendering or deadnaming a person or a group of people.