Twitter has quietly reversed course and reinstated its policy prohibiting the deliberate misgendering or deadnaming of transgender users on the platform.
The reinstated policy, first spotted by Ars Technica, is now listed under Twitter’s “Abuse and Harassment” rules. It states the company “will reduce the visibility of posts that purposefully use different pronouns to address someone other than what that person uses for themselves, or that use a previous name that someone no longer goes by as part of their transition.”
This explicit protection for transgender individuals had been in place since 2018 before being removed from Twitter’s policies in April 2023, shortly after Elon Musk acquired the company. The removal sparked concerns that Musk’s previous tweets misgendering individuals may have influenced the controversial decision.
Under the reinstated rules, Twitter says it requires the targeted individual to report any violations to the company before taking action to limit the visibility of offending posts containing misgendering or deadnaming.
However, the policy stops short of removing such content entirely. Violating tweets will still remain visible with reduced distribution and omitted from search results or timelines until reported.
Twitter’s reversal follows widespread criticism from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and Twitter’s own Trust and Safety Council over the initial policy removal seen as enabling harassment toward the transgender community.
While reinstating protections for preferred name and pronoun usage is a positive step, some are disappointed the onus remains on harassment targets to identify violating content rather than proactive platform enforcement.
The policy change is one of the first major decisions made under Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino, who took over in early May after months of upheaval and uncertainty at the company.
Source: PCmag
