Which might be problematic, in varied methods.

First, on the rule change – following an incident involving his younger son, Elon Musk determined that sufficient was sufficient, and referred to as on his staff to implement new guidelines round location monitoring.

As defined by Twitter:

“When somebody shares a person’s stay location on Twitter, there’s an elevated danger of bodily hurt. Transferring ahead, we’ll take away Tweets that share this info, and accounts devoted to sharing another person’s stay location can be suspended.”

The precise wording in Twitter’s guidelines particularly outlaws:

“Stay location info, together with info shared on Twitter immediately or hyperlinks to Third-party URL(s) of journey routes, precise bodily location, or different figuring out info that might reveal an individual’s location, regardless if this info is publicly out there.”

In keeping with Musk, a stalker had used location monitoring information to comply with his automobile, which resulted within the man stopping the automobile and leaping onto the hood, whereas his younger son was inside.
Musk himself was not within the automobile, however the incident was sufficient to spotlight the hazards of location monitoring to Elon, who determined to take quick motion in opposition to the @ElonJet account particularly.

Although whether or not that precise account performed any half within the incident is questionable, as flight information logs are publicly out there from varied sources, and that monitoring information clearly doesn’t lengthen to automobile monitoring or anything.

Nonetheless, Elon’s making a transfer – however altering the platform’s guidelines wholesale may have expanded impacts that Twitter 2.0 might not have thought by way of with this fast replace.

For instance, based mostly on this wording, a authorities may theoretically name on Twitter to ban all tweets that embody, say, footage from a protest motion, as that might be sharing the stay location of the folks famous in any connected video or picture.

That’s a part of what Twitter truly did final yr, below request from the Indian authorities, amid violent protests over agricultural reforms.

As reported by Time:

“Farmers used tractors to tear down police barricades, and movies of police attacking protesting farmers circulated on social media.”

Footage of the protests, which was subsequently distributed by way of social apps, threatened to undermine the federal government’s authority, which led the Indian Authorities to name on Twitter to take away all mentions of the protest motion, and droop accounts sharing it.

Which Twitter did, earlier than reversing that call days later.

As Twitter famous:

“We’ll proceed to advocate for the proper of free expression on behalf of the folks we serve. We’re exploring choices below Indian legislation — each for Twitter and for the accounts which were impacted. We stay dedicated to safeguarding the well being of the dialog occurring on Twitter, and strongly imagine that the Tweets ought to stream.”

The incident sparked ongoing tensions between the corporate and the Indian Authorities, with Twitter sustaining that it was unlawful for the Authorities to limit the rights of residents to doc the protest motion.

However now, Twitter might have inadvertently supplied a brand new pathway for reputable censorship of such, each time any authorities chooses to close it down.

As a result of successfully, below this new clause, any stay or real-time replace that features anybody else, aside from the account holder, is definitely in opposition to the foundations, and ought to be eliminated. That’s not what the intent of the rule is, however with out specifics factored into the wording, it may apply to a whole lot of totally different use circumstances, and will completely facilitate censorship, in some ways.

Twitter has stated that content material that shares location info associated to a public engagement or occasion, akin to a live performance or political occasion, remains to be permitted, whereas it can additionally think about intent, together with whether or not the knowledge has been shared throughout a disaster state of affairs. But it surely’s not clear how that may relate to protests and unofficial gatherings, which may present a brand new alternative for censorship.

In essence, Twitter’s new staff has rushed by way of an replace that might have far-reaching implications, seemingly on the whim of its new, billionaire proprietor, who continues to form the platform based mostly on his personal private expertise.

There’s additionally no small irony on this announcement coming only a day after reviews that Twitter has additionally been contemplating a brand new push to power customers to share their location info to help with advert focusing on within the app.

More and more, evidently Twitter’s ‘free speech’ strategy will include sure situations, with these particular parameters being dictated by its high-profile chief.

Will that be workable? Can Twitter truly perform in an even-handed, extra open approach whereas Elon can also be bringing his personal bias and expertise into the combination?

It looks as if there’s nonetheless some work to be accomplished to ascertain optimum course of at Twitter HQ.