Twitter Reviews Policies After Robin Williams’s Daughter Abused

[onehandle]

Source: Bloomberg

Twitter Inc. (TWTR) is reviewing its policies on privacy and support for family members of deceased users after Robin Williams’s daughter was sent abusive messages following his death.

Twitter has suspended “a number of accounts” related to the incident, Del Harvey, vice president of trust and safety for the San Francisco-based company, said in a statement.

“We will not tolerate abuse of this nature on Twitter,” Harvey said. “We are in the process of evaluating how we can further improve our policies to better handle tragic situations like this one.”

The changes will include broader privacy rules and increased services for family members when a user dies, she said. Williams’s daughter, Zelda, said in a post on Twitter yesterday that she would stop using the short messaging service.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-14/twitter-reviews-policies-after-robin-williams-s-daughter-abused.html

[oldandhappy]

1. ha ha

Shut the barn door after the horse has bolted.

[Amonester]

2. I bet Del Harvey & Co. couldn't foresee that one coming...

with so many sick minds all over...

[senseandsensibility]

3. I am very supportive of Zelda's right not to be harrassed on twitter

and I am devastated by Mr. William's death. I've posted many times in this regard. But I have to wonder if the twitter execs would be as concerned with abuse of jane doe when she is abused following the death of a loved one?

[tomm2thumbs]

4. no, they are just concerned about the bad publicity, as always

corporations hate it when people shine the light

[BrotherIvan]

6. My thoughts exactly

They only mean famous families. But if you're a nobody, you can be stalked and harassed at will.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. Because after all, bad traffic is still traffic

and traffic drives the worth of social media.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

7. of course not. we've already seen just how much concern social media execs show

For female targets. FB, YouTube, all of them.

I'd even wager that abusive comments would have been zero-negligible if it had been a son posting.

[Leith]

5. Too Little, Too Late

Vicious creeps are everywhere and they won't leave people in peace. I'm all for freedom of speech, but there is NO excuse for abusing a grieving family members. They are like the Westboro thugs.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

8. I'm just trying to think of a way they can stop this on a global scale.

Anybody got anything?

[navarth]

9. Why would anybody use this twitter thing anyway?

Seems like a waste of time, fly paper for stupid people just like facebook.

[CountAllVotes]

10. +1,000

There is little to learn from a one line sentence.

I have a twitter account but I find it to be ... boring, boring, boring. I've got better things to do w/my time like sleep.