Twitter, which has long touted its free-speech, anti-censorship stance, is policing content on its site in a couple of high-profile cases. It s dealing with the tweeting of a video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley, which started circulating Tuesday. And in response to doctored images that made the rounds on Twitter after Robin Williams death, the company said it will take down images of deceased persons when their families ask.
CEO Dick Costolo tweeted this morning amid the news about the brutal killing of Foley by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS): Twitter has been actively suspending accounts as we discover them related to this graphic imagery. The National Journal notes that ISIS often uses Twitter to spread messages to attract recruits and disseminate graphic images of its violence.
The 4-minute-plus video was also posted on YouTube, which reportedly took it down. Like Twitter, YouTube says it removes content after it s been flagged by users. Other social networks such as Facebook has had to grapple with similar issues; we wrote last fall about controversy surrounding its waffling on a ban on showing beheading videos.
Meanwhile, Twitter says it will remove images of people who have died when their families or executors of their estates make a request. As we wrote last week, the daughter of late actor and comedian Robin Williams decided to quit Twitter after being subjected to, among other things, Photoshopped images of her dad. The company said at the time that it would not tolerate abuse of this nature on Twitter, and it announced its new policy Tuesday.
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