Twitter Admits 'Coordinated and Malicious' Activity Weaponizing Its New Privacy Policy

CNN reports: Twitter acknowledged on Friday that a new policy it unveiled this week to protect users from harassment is being abused by malicious actors — days after journalists, left-wing activists and self-described "sedition hunters" reported their accounts had been locked for sharing publicly available images of anti-maskers, anti-vaccine protesters and suspected Capitol insurrectionists. The acknowledgment highlights how Twitter has been caught flat-footed by what it described in a statement as "a significant amount of coordinated and malicious" activity that led to "several errors" in Twitter's enforcement. "We've corrected those errors and are undergoing an internal review to make certain that this policy is used as intended — to curb the misuse of media to harass or intimidate private individuals," Twitter said. Unveiled on Tuesday, Twitter's new policy prohibits the sharing of images of private individuals without those people's consent. The rule was created, Twitter initially said, in a bid to prevent its platform from being abused to harass and intimidate people, particularly women, activists and minorities. But right-wing groups and anti-mask activists have quickly determined that the new Twitter policy offers an opportunity to strike back at those who might draw attention to their real-world identities. And in a matter of days, they established a coordinated campaign to flood Twitter with complaints that left-wing activists, Jan. 6 investigators and journalists covering rallies have published their faces without consent in violation of the new rule.... "Due to the new privacy policy at Twitter, things now unexpectedly work more in our favor as we can take down Antifa f****t doxxing pages more easily," read one recent message on the encrypted messaging app Telegram that was reviewed by CNN. The message, which has been viewed more than 19,000 times, lists dozens of Twitter accounts for supporters to target with claims of violations under the new privacy policy... After filing such reports, some individuals have publicly celebrated "weaponizing" Twitter's new rule. A pair of posts reviewed by CNN on the alternative social media site Gab boasted of making dozens of Twitter reports and urged allies to "stay on the offensive" against "antifa" and "their doxxing riot videos." The rapidly unfolding campaign highlights how a tool intended to help protect vulnerable individuals has quickly evolved to help shield others from the scrutiny that might stem from their public actions. Twitter's policy is generally not supposed to apply to large-scale protests or newsworthy events, the company had said on Tuesday. Yet CNN points out now that "those aspects of Twitter's own policy appear not to have been followed in at least several cases."

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