Twitter users noticed that the company has removed language from its hateful conduct policy protecting transgender users. Deadnaming and misgendering trans people, banned by Twitter in 2018, no longer violate its policies.
Archives captured by the Wayback Machine showed the previous version still existed April 7, the day Twitter announced it had updated its abuse and harassment policy to redefine "targeted harassment." But by the next day, the line had disappeared.The advocacy group GLAAD condemned the move in a statement Tuesday, calling it the latest in a series of changes that have made the platform less safe for people and advertisers."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," GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. "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."
NBC News noticed, however, that the site's "report" function still contained an option for "misgendering or deadnaming", suggesting the removal is yet another hastily and ineptly-implemented whim.
