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<div class="gmail-article__article-story"><div class="gmail-article-story"><h1 class="gmail-article-story__headline gmail-grid__scroll-hook">Twitter seeking feedback on new rule targeting 'dehumanizing language'</h1>

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            "Language that makes someone less than human can have 

repercussions off the service, including normalizing serious violence," 

Twitter's blog said.

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                    <span class="gmail-author__tag">Author: </span>

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Meghan Kee

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                    <span class="gmail-author__tag">Published: </span>

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                                5:57 AM CDT September 26, 2018

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                    <span class="gmail-author__tag">Updated: </span>

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                            7:31 AM CDT September 26, 2018

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                        <p>Twitter has unveiled a new policy to stop 

cyberbullying, but the company is asking for user feedback before making

 the new changes official.</p><p>The social media giant is now focusing 

in on dehumanizing language on its platform. Twitter already prohibits 

users from tweeting out violence against someone and direct attacks. 

Threats against certain groups based on race, ethnicity, national 

origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, age or 

disability are also already banned.</p>      <div class="gmail-ad gmail-ad_border_true gmail-ad_position_article_mid1" id="gmail-article_mid1_0"><div id="gmail-vi-stories-main-container" class="gmail-vi-stories-main-container" style="width:736px"><div id="gmail-vi-stories-description-container"><div id="gmail-vi-stories-title">Short-Seller Andrew Left Raises Price Target on Twitter, Thinks Privacy Scandal 'Has Quelled'</div><div id="gmail-vi-stories-sponsor-container"><div id="gmail-vi-stories-sponsor-powered">featured by</div><img id="gmail-vi-stories-sponsor-logo" src="https://s.vi-serve.com/vi_logo.svg"></div></div></div></div>

<p>The Twitter Safety account sent out a statement Tuesday addressing 

that some dehumanizing language does not fall into those categories but 

can cause real harm.</p><div class="gmail-article__embed">

</div><p>“Language that makes someone less than human can have 

repercussions off the service, including normalizing serious violence,” 

Twitter’s blog said.Examples of dehumanizing language include reducing someone to an animal or virus or referring to them as their genitalia.The company is asking for user feedback on the new policy before it becomes an official Twitter rule. You can find the survey <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/Creating-new-policies-together.html">by clicking here. </a>Twitter’s survey on this new rule will be available until 6 p.m. on Oct. 9.The new proposed rule is:“You may not dehumanize anyone based on membership in an identifiable group, as this speech can lead to offline harm.”            Definitions:Dehumanization:

 Language that treats others as less than human. Dehumanization can 

occur when others are denied of human qualities (animalistic 

dehumanization) or when others are denied of human nature (mechanistic 

dehumanization). Examples can include comparing groups to animals and 

viruses (animalistic), or reducing groups to their genitalia 

(mechanistic).</p><p>Identifiable group: Any group of people that can be

 distinguished by their shared characteristics such as their race, 

ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity,

 religious affiliation, age, disability, serious disease, occupation, 

political beliefs, location, or social practices.</p><p><em>Meghan Kee can be reached at <a href="mailto:mkee@wwltv.com">mkee@wwltv.com</a></em></p></div></div></div>

<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>