About intimate media on Twitter

Twitter Rules: You may not post or share intimate photos or videos of someone that were produced or distributed without their consent.

Rationale

Sharing explicit sexual images or videos of someone online without their consent is a violation of their privacy and one of the most serious violations of the Twitter Rules. In addition to posing serious safety and security risks, it may also result in physical, emotional, and financial hardship for the person whose media is shared.

When this applies

We prohibit the posting or sharing of intimate photos or videos that were or appear to have been taken or distributed without the subject's consent. Examples of intimate media that violate this policy include, but may not be limited to:

• hidden camera content involving nudity, partial nudity, and/or sexual acts
• images or videos that appear to have been taken secretly and in a way that allows the user to see the other person’s genitals, buttocks, or breasts (content sometimes referred to “creepshots” or “upskirts”)
• images or videos captured in a private setting and not intended for public distribution
• images or videos that are considered and treated as private under applicable laws

Some forms of consensual nudity and adult content are permitted on Twitter. When we review this type of content, it may not be clear whether it was produced or distributed consensually. To help prevent our teams from making a mistake and removing consensual intimate media, we may require a report from the actual subject or their authorized representative prior to taking any enforcement action. We will reply back to those reports via email and request that the subject provide documentation to verify their identity. Please note that this documentation will be destroyed once it is no longer needed by Twitter to evaluate the case and will not be shared with any third parties. We will not share any details about who reported this content with the violator.

This, however, does not apply to creepshots or upskirts, where we accept reports from bystanders — and do not require verifying documentation — as it is oftentimes difficult for victims of this content to identify themselves.

Consequences

We will suspend any account we identify as the original poster of intimate media that has been produced or distributed without the subject’s consent. We will also suspend any account dedicated to posting this type of content.

If someone is not the original poster of this content, it is not clear that the content was produced or distributed without consent, and/or a person has an otherwise clean violation history, we may not suspend the account immediately. Instead, we will require the user to remove the violating Tweet(s) and temporarily lock them out of their account before they can Tweet again. We will immediately and permanently suspend them upon any further violations of this policy.