Twitter adds ‘caste’ to its hateful conduct policy

“We also do not allow accounts whose primary purpose is inciting harm towards others on the basis of these categories,” Twitter said

Twitter on Friday added the word “caste” to their hateful conduct policy following a series of discussions with Dalit rights activists. The revised policy now reads: “You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. We also do not allow accounts whose primary purpose is inciting harm towards others on the basis of these categories.”

A spokesperson for the social media giant said, “Our commitment to inclusion and diversity is fundamental to who we are at Twitter and crucial to the effectiveness of our service. Twitter rules are in place to ensure all people can participate in the public conversation freely and safely. The Twitter Rules are a living document and we are continually working to update, refine, and improve both our enforcement and our policies. Our Hateful Conduct Policy always prohibited behavior that targets individuals based on protected categories (including caste). Today, we have updated the policy to specially include the word caste.”

When Twitter’s legal head Vijaya Gadde visited India in November 2018 to meet local stakeholders, the company responded to a query by The Indian Express on caste by saying, “We do currently prohibit abuse based on caste, even though it’s not specifically called out in the policy. Abusing people on the basis of caste would be a type of intra-religious distinction. It would fall under our hateful conduct policies, prohibiting the targeting of people based on their membership in a religious group. However, based on the useful feedback Vijaya received on this trip, she is going to discuss with the team whether this should be called out more explicitly.”