Twitter has ditched their 2018 policy banning the intentional deadnaming and misgendering of transgender folk online without explanation.
The social media giant quietly updated its hateful conduct policy, removing the section that prohibits deadnaming, which is the act of intentionally calling a transgender person by an incorrect name.
Twitter had originally banned the harmful practice in 2018.
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"We prohibit targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category," the previous policy stated.
"This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals."
That final sentence has now been removed, without fanfare or warning.
As per Twitter’s policy page, it indicates it was last updated in April 2023.
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According to Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a quick look back at the policy page using the Wayback Machine indicates the rule change was made on April 8.
GLADD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis condemned the policy change.
"Twitter’s decision to covertly roll back its longtime policy is the latest example of just how unsafe the company is for users and advertisers alike," she said.
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"This decision to roll back LGBTQ safety pulls Twitter even more out of step with TikTok, Pinterest, and Meta, which all maintain similar policies to protect their transgender users at a time when anti-transgender rhetoric online is leading to real world discrimination and violence."
Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo also called out the change online.
"While the rules were sparsely enforced, this green-lights further targeting of trans users," she wrote on social media.
Multiple changes to Twitter have occurred since billionaire Elon Musk took over the reins at the Blue Bird.
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In November, he tweaked policies in order to allow the reactivation of multiple banned accounts.
The policy changed in such a way that now accounts that push spam or break the law remain banned on the social media platform.
The move saw banned users such as former US President Donald Trump and Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene reinstated, following through on his vow of 'free-speech absolutism'.
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It is also worth noting that one of Musk's children is transgender.
According to legal documents filed in a Los Angeles court and cited by TMZ and The Blast in June 2022, Musk's child had her name changed from her male birth name to Vivian Jenna Wilson.
The name Wilson comes from her mother, Canadian author Justine Wilson, who was married to Musk from 2000 to 2008.
Rachel Lang