Social media site Twitter has updated its rules of use to ban users from engaging in homophobic and transphobic attacks.

Twitter announced the update late last week in a move meant to “clarify” what the company “consider[s] to be abusive behaviour and hateful conduct.” Megan Cristina, Twitter’s Director of Trust + Safety, wrote a blog post on the updated rules titled “Fighting abuse to protect freedom of expression“:

“The updated language [in the Twitter rules] emphasizes that Twitter will not tolerate behavior intended to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence another user’s voice. 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.”

The Twitter Rules now explicitly ban users from partaking in “Hateful Conduct”, which it defines as follows:

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

Twitter notes that failure to abide by its rules “may result in the temporary locking and/or permanent suspension of account(s).”

(Top photo via Flickr)