Twitter reportedly suspended accounts by mistake after extremists abused new private media policy

The image is by Alex Castro.

According to a report by The Washington Post, a number of accounts were suspended by mistake after far-right extremists began exploiting the platform's new private media policy.

The platform launched an internal review of the matter and made necessary changes, according to The Post. Far-right activists have been trying to remove pictures of them taken at hate rallies because of the new policy on taking down photos on the micro-blogging site. The rule was put in place to stop the misuse of media to harass, intimate, and reveal the identities of private individuals, which disproportionately affects women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities.

Extremists began abusing the new system shortly after it was introduced. The Washington Post reported that far-right activists used services like Telegram and Gab to organize against anti-fascist accounts that work to expose and keep track of white supremacists at hate rallies.

We were worried that the accounts of researchers who study extremism would be locked and suspended under the new policy.
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The video is from September and shows two right-wing extremists planning violent assaults.
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Chad loder (they/ them) wrote about it on November 30, 2021.

The same day that the new policy was launched, some extremists learned that their accounts had been suspended for violating the platform's rules. According to The Washington Post, the company has been hit with a lot of wrongful reports, and a dozen of them have been suspended.

Working journalists and researchers of the far-right have been disproportionately punished by the new private information policy. Some people have been locked out of their homes because of the photos they took at public rallies.
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We've all crossed it if this is the bar.
Fix this atTwitterSafety.
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December 3, 2021.

The vague wording of its new policy has caused criticism because it could affect journalists who have a legitimate reason to post their photos online. On the day of the feature's launch, a thread said that it would take into consideration whether the image is publicly available and/or is being covered by journalists.

It is not clear if the policy will be clarified or if it will specifically outline what types of personal photos are not allowed on the platform. The Verge reached out to the micro-blogging site, but didn't hear back.