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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Pledges New Rules on Hate, Harassment After Boycott

Twitter has promised a new crackdown on “unwanted sexual advances" and "hate symbols" after a storm of protest including a boycott by women.
Image: People holding mobile phones are silhouetted against a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo
People holding mobile phones are silhouetted against a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo.Kacper Pempel / Reuters

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey late Friday promised “new rules” governing users of the social media platform after a storm of protest that included a boycott by women.

The tech boss admitted in a thread that Twitter was “still not doing enough” to stop “voices being silenced … every day.”

He said a crackdown on “unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual nudity, hate symbols, violent groups, and tweets that glorifies [sic] violence” would “start rolling out in the next few weeks,” adding: “More to share next week.”

“We’ve been working intensely over the past few months and focused today on making some critical decisions,” Dorsey said. “We decided to take a more aggressive stance in our rules and how we enforce them.”

Related: Could Ex-Twitter CEO Have Changed the Way Trump Tweets?

Tighter controls on content posted to Twitter and other platforms including Facebook and Instagram have been demanded as users complain of sexual harassment and amid fears foreign governments have used social media to influence the outcome of U.S. elections.

On Friday, actress Rose McGowan was among women boycotting Twitter in a protest over the temporary shutdown of her account hours after she made allegations of systemic sexual abuse in Hollywood, including against Harvey Weinstein.

“We prioritized this in 2016,” Dorsey said. “We updated our policies and increased the size of our teams. It wasn’t enough.”

He also retweeted Twitter employee, Bo Han, who wrote: "We will be better. We need to be better."