Twitter Inc. changed its terms of service Wednesday to ban non-consensual intimate photos or videos, a.k.a. revenge porn.

If you’re not familiar with the concept, revenge porn is sexually explicit media that is publicly shared online without the consent of the pictured individual, usually, as the name may suggest, in an act of revenge, say by an angry ex-partner or similar.

The change, first noticed by Buzzfeed, sees the private information section on Twitter’s terms of service now read:

You may not publish or post other people’s private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission. You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.

The emphasis is ours, but that’s the key line: porn or intimate photos or videos are still ok to post on Twitter, but only where the subject consents, and in the case of porn consent is given by its legal publication to begin with (copyright though is a separate matter.)

It that wasn’t clear enough, Twitter went further and amended its “threats and abuse” section as well:

Users may not make direct, specific threats of violence against others, including threats against a person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, or disability. In addition, users may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.

Twitter first started cracking down on harassing and similar behavior on its popular microblogging platform in December 2014, when it introduced a number of new anti-harassment tools.

If a user now posts an intimate image in an act of harassment, if reported the user will be permanently suspended from Twitter, although the accused can challenge a complaint; Twitter would then have to verify if an image was incorrectly reported.

Taming a wild beast

Social justice warriors have long bleated about the need for Twitter to “do more” about harassment, but taming a wild beast like Twitter is always going to be near on impossible.

288 million monthly active users delivering billions of tweets a month is a literal nightmare when in comes to ubiquitous rules enforcement and user protection, but likewise small things like banning revenge porn in its terms of use can only help the reputation of the site, and certainly don’t hurt it.

It’s unlikely though to provide any great relief from harassment on Twitter as the rule change doesn’t change the reality that unless you’re a country like China and hire hundreds of thousands of people to filter what’s being said, it can’t be done in any serious, or meaningful way, even with the ability to report transgressions.

photo credit: _MG_0934 via photopin (license)