Twitter Makes Naughtiness Opt-In

Two years ago Twitpic cracked down on nudity. They offered users no options, simply suspended accounts that contained inappropriate imagery. Now Twitter has followed suit, but their effort to clean up is considerably more mature. Instead of censoring users, Twitter is asking that people label their content “sensitive.” By opting in, users enable others to choose whether they want to see such content or skip it.

The downside of these settings is that you can’t mark individual media. You can only access your account settings and label all your media sensitive in one broad stroke.

According to the Twitter Help Center:

If you upload media that might be considered sensitive content such as nudity, violence, or medical procedures, you should consider applying the account setting “Mark my media as containing sensitive content” […] If another user notices that you have not marked your media appropriately, that user may flag your image or video for review. To avoid this, if you plan to often upload possibly sensitive content, check the box next to “Mark my media as containing possibly sensitive content” in your account settings page.

If your content is flagged, Twitter will review it and determine if it merits behind hidden behind a warning or if it should be removed outright. If it is deemed your media merits a warning, Twitter will change your account settings to mark all media as sensitive. Repeated mislabelers will see their account setting permanently changed to mark all media as sensitive. A violator will receive an e-mail alerting them about this change, but there is no current way to appeal a decision.

This is a staunch stance, but it’s not so bad. Users will still be able to see your media even if you or Twitter mark it sensitive, by clicking through the warning. Per the Twitter Help Center:

When you mark your Tweets as containing media that might be sensitive, users will be required to click through a warning message before media is displayed to them. For users who have opted in to seeing possibly sensitive media, they will see your images without a warning.

Users can opt to view media from people they don’t follow, as well as to view any sensitive media by default. These settings can be selected in your account settings Tweet media section as well.

We applaud Twitter for allowing its users to self-police and taking a stance against censorship by creating a system of warnings instead.

Header image via alwaysengaged.