[lg policy] Politically correct Twitter will prohibit ‘dehumanizing language,’ such as comparisons to animals, viruses

[Harold Schiffman]

-- 
Politically correct Twitter will prohibit ‘dehumanizing language,’ such as
comparisons to animals, viruses

   - [image: GOPUSA Staff] Washington Times
   <http://www.gopusa.com/author/admin/>
   - 11:45 am October 1, 2018
   - 13 comments

Twitter announced plans to prohibit “dehumanizing language” on its
platform, including tweets comparing people to animals and viruses.

In a blog post, members of Twitter’s trust and safety team asked users for
their input on a pending rule change that would broaden the company’s
existing hateful conduct policy to include language that treats others as
“less than human.”

“You may not dehumanize anyone based on membership in an identifiable
group, as this speech can lead to offline harm,” reads Twitter’s proposed
policy change.

“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),” Twitter’s trust and safety team explained.

Identifiable groups include any groups of people that can be distinguished
by shared characteristics such as race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual
orientation, gender, religion, age, disability, disease, occupation,
political beliefs or social practices, the blog post said.

“Language that makes someone less than human can have repercussions off the
service, including normalizing serious violence,” wrote Twitter attorney
Vijaya Gadde and Del Harvey, vice president for Twitter’s trust and safety
division.
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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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