Twitter will now be banning accounts that tweet abuse or threats that use homophobic or transphobic language.

The social media giant has opened up and clarified the sort of ‘hateful conduct’ that will now prompt accounts to be deleted.

‘As always, we embrace and encourage diverse opinions and beliefs, but we will continue to take action on accounts that cross the line into abuse,” said Megan Cristina, director of trust and safety, said in a new blog post.

‘You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease, ‘ according to the new rules.

Previous warnings banned users from promoting ‘violence against others’.

Twitter has been criticised for not doing enough to help protect victims of abuse. Taylor Alasna, a 16-year-old trans girl from California who committed suicide last April, said she was bullied and sent transphobic messages on Twitter.

According to No Homophobes.com, the word ‘faggot’ has been tweeted on the platform over 34 million times since it began tracking in July 2012.