Twitter stated that content sharing the location of a public event or activity, such as a concert or political gathering, is still legal, however, it will also consider the intent of the content, such as whether the information was provided during a crisis scenario.
In essence, Twitter’s new management has hurriedly implemented a change that might have wide-ranging effects, seemingly at the urge of the company’s new, billionaire owner, who continues to mold the platform based on his own personal experience.
As explained by Twitter, “When someone shares an individual’s live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm. Moving forward, we’ll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone else’s live location will be suspended.”
However, it’s unclear how it may apply to protests and unofficial meetings, which might present a new window for censorship.
When someone shares an individual’s live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm. Moving forward, we’ll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone else’s live location will be suspended.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) December 14, 2022
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The actual wording in Twitter’s rules specifically outlaws, “Live location information, including information shared on Twitter directly or links to 3rd-party URL(s) of travel routes, actual physical location, or other identifying information that would reveal a person’s location, regardless if this information is publicly available.”
This announcement’s timing, coming a day after news that Twitter was also exploring a fresh push to require users to provide their location information in order to aid in ad targeting in the app, is not without irony.
More and more, it appears that Twitter’s ‘free speech‘ stance will be subject to restrictions, with those particular guidelines being set by its well-known CEO.
