The microblogging platform Twitter has always been a place for political debates on the internet, and it was having a busy Monday after announcing some updates to its policy.
The social network is enforcing an updated policy aimed at reducing the amount of abusive and hateful content on the platform.
Among the changes are prohibitions against users promoting violence and hate in their usernames or bios; the prospect of permanent suspension of accounts threatening violence, serious physical harm or death; and a ban of accounts featuring hate symbols and images.
"Everyone should have the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers," said Twitter.
But in order to protect the experience and safety of its users, Twitter needs to have some limitations on the type of content and behavior that it allows. Here, Twitter struggles to achieve its stated mission of providing a platform for free expression.
Users are urging social media networks to eliminate harassment and hate speech, especially those that are aimed at women and minorities.
To address this problem, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey promises to change the company's harassment policies, and include more transparency on how it will protect its 330 million users from abusive behavior have been met with mixed emotions.
As part of the internet where free speech happens, Twitter is under increasing scrutiny.
But the company is showing that it's taking the responsibilities quite seriously, realizing that it has a series of problems on its hands.
The company is facing increasing pressure.
For a start, Twitter did a great move. In a swift play, more than 20 notable accounts had been either banned or suspended as a result of the rules.
The banned include Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of fringe group Britain First, as well as her group's official account; white nationalist Jared Taylor and his American Renaissance group; and the American Nazi Party.
But the purge doesn’t seem to offer the consistency Twitter users may have hoped for. White nationalist Richard Spencer and former KKK David Duke, for example, were not suspended.
Twitter declined to share the details about those accounts, acknowledging that its efforts are a work in progress. What this means, Twitter may again tweak its policies. "We'll evaluate and iterate on these changes in the coming days and weeks," said the company in its blog post.
With Twitter’s shares ended the day with a gain of 11 percent, to close at $24.69, the company may have finally realized the issues that have hampered its performance in recent years.