New rules: How Twitter plans to curb online violence and abuse

After Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced plans to act more aggressively on violence and sexual abuse, the micro-blogging website has now detailed new rules it will implement soon.

In an internal email which was obtained by Wired.com, Twitter's head of safety policy has emailed members of its Trust and Safety Council on new rules to promote free speech and curb violence and sexual harassment.

"We hope our approach and upcoming changes, as well as our collaboration with the Trust and Safety Council, show how seriously we are rethinking our rules and how quickly we're moving to update our policies and how we enforce them," Twitter said on Wednesday.

"We will immediately and permanently suspend any account we identify as the original poster/source of non-consensual nudity and/or if a user makes it clear they are intentionally posting said content to harass their target," the email read.

"If the account appears to be dedicated to posting non-consensual nudity then we will suspend the entire account immediately," it added.

On hate symbols and imagery, it said: "We are still defining the exact scope of what will be covered by this policy. At a high level, hateful imagery, hate symbols, etc will now be considered sensitive media (similar to how we handle and enforce adult content and graphic violence)".

On violent groups, Twitter said it will take enforcement action against organisations that use or have historically used violence as a means to advance their cause.

"Consistent interpretation and enforcement of our rules is our objective. We also need to remove the burden of reporting from those who are targeted. We've prioritised the work," Dorsey said in a tweet.