Twitter has announced new safety rules concerning the accounts sharing live locations of others. Considering that sharing such location data with others can trigger physical harm, Twitter will remove any of the tweets sharing such data in the future.
While users can share historical data and their owner’s location on the platform, they should ensure that it won’t harm others.
Sharing Live Location on Twitter
Twitter’s new boss Elon Musk has long been preaching about free speech on the platform – and promised to take all the necessary steps to promote it. He even allowed an account named @ElonJet to track his private jet’s movement, despite claiming it was a “direct personal safety risk” to him.
Well, all this is about to change, with Twitter announcing new safety rules for the platform. According to it, accounts sharing the live location of others will be banned, while the platform will automatically take down their tweets.
We’ve updated our Private Information policy to prohibit sharing someone else’s live location in most cases. Here’s what changed and why. ????
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) December 14, 2022
There are a few exceptions, though, like sharing people’s live location concerning a “public engagement or event,” like a concert or a political event allowed. Also, you can share your own live location on the platform – if that doesn’t concern you.
Twitter stated, “When someone shares an individual’s live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm,” thus prohibiting this practice. Well, you can share the historical data of others – like their location status in the past – provided that “a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm.”
This puts the @ElonJet at risk – an account that tracks the live location of Elon Musk’s private jet movement. This account was suspended, restored, and suspended, probably due to the new rules. Further, the personal accounts of Jack Sweeney – a college student managing @Elonjet, have also been suspended.
