What is Twitter’s new anti-doxxing policy?

Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of several United States-based journalists in a move that the micro-blogging platform's new chief Elon Musk described as "part of the company’s new anti-doxxing policy".

However, come Friday and Musk said he would reinstate the Twitter accounts of journalists after carrying out a Twitter poll asking whether he should restore the suspended accounts. Nearly 59 per cent of the 3.69 million who took part said he should restore the accounts immediately.

So what exactly is doxxing and what is Twitter’s anti-doxxing policy? Let's take a closer look.

What exactly is doxxing?

A contraction of the phrase, "dropping documents", doxxing is the act of revealing personal or identity-revealing information about someone online, such as their real name, personal documents, phone number, home address, workplace, and other financial information. In the process of doxxing, personal information is circulated in the public sphere without the knowledge of the victim, and in some cases, causing real-life consequences.

What led ot Twitter's new policy?

The suspension spree began after Twitter suspended more than two dozen other accounts, including an account belonging to Jack Sweeney, the 20-year-old college student behind @elonjet which tracked the movements of Musk’s private plane.

“You dox, you get suspended. End of story. That’s it,” Musk had said in a Twitter Space discussion.

Also Read | 'Serious concerns' despite reinstatement of journalist Twitter accounts: UN

Later on, the accounts of nearly six journalists who reported on the issue were also suspended. Each of the suspended journalists had written about the plane-tracking account or tweeted about it. They were not given an explanation on why their accounts were suspended, however, Musk later confirmed that it was because the journalists had allegedly tweeted links to his live location and address, a claim that was denied by many reporters in the group.

What is Twitter's new rule on anti-doxxing and why did Musk impose it?

Claiming that a car carrying one of his children was accosted by a “crazy stalker", Musk laid down a new rule: Any Twitter user who publishes the live location or other personal information of someone else — an act known as doxxing — will be taken offline.

Twitter’s private information and media policy state that sharing someone’s private information online without their permission is a breach of their privacy and of Twitter Rules.

“Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone travelled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok,” Musk wrote.

Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.

Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2022

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As per the policy, violation of the listed rules can result in the account getting locked and continued violations can result in a permanent suspension.

However, sharing anyone’s live location without permission will lead to an automatic suspension.