Twitter will take ‘less severe action’ against accounts that break rules

Elon Musk-run Twitter on Saturday announced it will take “less severe actions” against user accounts that break its rules, asking them to remove controversial tweets and move on.

The company said it will only suspend Twitter accounts that engage in “severe or ongoing, repeat violations” of its rules.

“Going forward, we will take less severe actions, such as limiting the reach of policy-violating Tweets or asking you to remove Tweets before you can continue using your account,” the micro-blogging platform said.

Account suspension will be reserved for severe or ongoing, repeat violations of our policies, it added.

Severe violations include but are not limited to engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, privacy violations, platform manipulation or spam, and engaging in targeted harassment of users.

Twitter said it has been proactively reinstating previously suspended accounts.

“Starting February 1, anyone can appeal an account suspension and be evaluated under our new criteria for reinstatement,” said Twitter.

The company said it did not reinstate accounts that engaged in illegal activity, threats of harm or violence, large-scale spam and platform manipulation, or when there was no recent appeal to have the account reinstated.

Twitter said it will continue to work on launching features that transparently identify when we have taken enforcement actions “and expect to begin rolling these out in February”.