"Cyber civil rights expert Danielle Citron, a School of Law professor of law, says Twitter should be credited with “trying to address hate speech in a coherent and systematic way.” In the last year, the company expanded its rules around hate speech to include dehumanizing speech against religious groups, as well as any language that dehumanizes people on the basis of their age, disability, or disease.
Citron, who serves without pay on Twitter’s Trust & Safety Council, says the social media platform has played a vital role in the growth of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The platform has become a sort of virtual global town square—except instead of dozens or hundreds of people gathering on a city street, millions of people join and organize protests, and videos of police violence are able to be seen around the world.
“Twitter is often a very mixed bag,” Citron says, “but in this moment, with Black Lives Matter, we’ve seen it as an important source for raising public consciousness.”"
- Date Published:08/20/2020
- Original Publication:BU Today