Twitter’s new rule on ‘visibility’ prioritizes freedom of speech over reach

According to the new policy announced by Twitter, in addition to limiting the visibility of tweets that are in violation of the platform’s policies, the company will also add “publicly visible labels” to provide context around why a tweet was deemed to be potentially violative. These labels will be available on tweets that are either hidden behind a warning message or subject to reduced visibility in search results and other parts of the platform.”We also believe it is our responsibility to keep users on our platform safe from content violating our rules. These beliefs are the foundation of freedom of speech, not freedom of reach — our enforcement philosophy which means, where appropriate, restricting the reach of tweets that violate our policies by making the content less discoverable,” the firm said.

The sample screenshots shared by Twitter demonstrated how the visibility of a tweet that may breach the microblogging site’s rule against hateful conduct is restricted.

The new policy includes a feature that displays which policy a tweet may have potentially violated, providing greater transparency to both the tweet’s author and other users on the platform. This move is expected to enhance transparency and accountability for content moderation enforcement of the company.

Referring to the policy, Twitter also said that tweets with the “public visibility” label will have their reach restricted and will be made less discoverable on the platform. Furthermore, no ads will be placed adjacent to these tweets with the label.

Additionally, users can provide feedback on the label if they believe that Twitter has erroneously restricted their tweet’s visibility. Currently, submitting feedback does not guarantee the user will receive a response or that their Tweet’s reach will be restored.

Twitter also said that they are working on allowing authors to appeal their decision.