In an update to its content moderation guidelines, Twitter has removed a policy that banned the targeted misgendering of transgender people.
This policy, which focused on restricting harmful content, stated in 2018 that repeatedly calling a transgender person by the wrong pronouns violated Twitter’s rules.
The policy included the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”
However, in a change made in April, this policy has been removed.
GLAAD has condemned the removal of the policy, calling it the latest in a series of changes that have made the platform more susceptible for users to receive online harassment.
“Twitter’s hateful conduct policy protected trans people from targeted misgendering and deadnaming for close to five years, and now they mysteriously removed it without a word,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
“This is unacceptable in any climate, and doubly unacceptable when you look at the barrage of disinformation and hate about trans people from right-wing media personalities, politicians, and the extremists they bolster.”
Milena Berry, CEO of PowerToFly, the award-winning diversity recruiting and retention platform, believes this can be a catastrophic decision for corporate America:
“Policy is the bedrock of workplace culture and safety. For top-ranked companies to deliberately remove policies that protect individuals is not just a disservice to the mindset America was built on, but will hurt the company in the long run.
“Customers and employees want to support and work for companies that make decisions based on openness, kindness and respect. It’s that simple.”
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.