Twitter will remove images and videos of those who have passed at the request of surviving family members.
The social media site announced the new policy on Tuesday, but not without some limitations. "When reviewing such media removal requests, Twitter considers public interest factors such as the newsworthiness of the content and may not be able to honor every request," Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler says.
Twitter will continue to prevent family members access to accounts of the deceased, but relatives can request removal of content "from when critical injury occurs to the moments before or after death." Family members will have to provide a copy of a death certificate and government-issued identification in order to have the images or video removed.
"In order to respect the wishes of loves ones, Twitter will remove imagery of deceased individuals in certain circumstances," Wexler says.
The changes to its policy comes a week after the daughter of late actor and comedian, Robin Williams was forced to quit Twitter after being bullied by online trolls. Insensitive Internet trolls directly sent Zelda Williams offensive Photoshopped images of her father.
Twitter blocked some accounts that sent the images. "We will not tolerate abuse of this nature on Twitter," Del Harvey, Twitter's vice president of trust and safety, says. "We have suspended a number of accounts related to this issue for violating our rules and we are in the process of evaluating how we can further improve our policies to better handle tragic situations like this one. This includes expanding our policies regarding self-harm and private information, and improving support for family members of deceased users."
Images and videos showing the death of U.S. photojournalist James Foley also led to the change in policy. Islamic State militant group, ISIS, reportedly killed Foley. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo in a tweet says Twitter "is actively suspending accounts as we discover them related to this graphic imagery." He also linked to the New York Times story about the journalists beheading.
Users who are against the offensive images are using the hashtag #ISISMediaBlackout; however, tweets of the killing are still linking the graphic footage.
The recent spread of graphic images shows how the powerful tool of social media is still changing the landscape of privacy and loss.
