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Twitter has blundered into yet another moderation crisis after it temporarily suspended the account<\/a> of actress Rose McGowan as she was using its platform to speak out against sexual harassment of women in the wake of sexual abuse allegations now coming out against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.<\/p>\n It appears<\/a> that Twitter\u2019s anti-abuse algorithms might have triggered the suspension, though the company declined to comment, telling us: \u201cWe don\u2019t comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n The suspension was reported earlier by\u00a0Variety<\/a>\u00a0after McGowan posted to her Instagram account, saying: \u201cTWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME. THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE. #ROSEARMY.\u201d<\/p>\n Her Twitter account has since been reinstated but the sight of a victim of sexual violence against women being silenced (even temporarily) at the very point that she was denouncing sexual violence against women is, to say the least, not a good look for Twitter.<\/p>\n Especially given extant criticism from many, many female users who face sexualized (and other forms) of abuse on its platform \u2014 yet when they report threats of rape, for instance, they frequently report being told by Twitter that this type of speech does not violate its community standards.<\/p>\n Last night I reported someone for calling me and others racial slurs. It came back as “not abuse.” Same for a clear rape threat two days ago<\/p>\n \u2014 Kelly Ellis (@justkelly_ok) July 27, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n And that despite Twitter\u2019s own rules<\/a>\u00a0claiming to censure \u201cViolent threats (direct or indirect)\u201d and also stating: \u201cYou may not incite or engage in the targeted abuse or harassment of others.\u201d<\/p>\n McGowan herself settled with Weinstein in 1997, and has apparently been limited in what she can say publicly about what happened to her as a result of that prior legal agreement. But at the time of her Twitter suspension she was tweeting in support of the women coming out with their own stories of sexual abuse now.<\/p>\n Now am I allowed to say rapist https:\/\/t.co\/95Ze9BixCT<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n .@asiaargento<\/a> directing\/re-enacting her own assault.We have been speaking out all along, the elites were just too greedy to care. https:\/\/t.co\/tEVfPzzQ8a<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n As well as calling out people she perceived to have been supportive of Weinstein and\/or complicit in a culture of silence regarding male power in Hollywood \u2014 and thus implicated in helping enable a cover-up.<\/p>\n Thus Twitter silencing her voice really couldn\u2019t have come at a worse moment\u2026<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible that McGowan\u2019s use of a swear word directed at a verified Twitter user, actor Ben Affleck, is what triggered Twitter\u2019s anti-abuse algorithms \u2014 and led to the suspension of her account. But there\u2019s no way to be sure given that Twitter isn\u2019t commenting.<\/p>\n Ben Affleck fuck off<\/p>\n \u2014 rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n In other instances women who have received targeted harassment on Twitter have reported their accounts being suspended after their abusers co-ordinated to file multiple reports against them (a well documented tactic utilizing other platforms such as 4Chan to organize pile-ons) \u2014 whereas their one-report-per-abusive-tweet apparently fails to get the attention of Twitter\u2019s algorithms.<\/p>\n That kind of fatal asymmetry is something Twitter has been warned about for years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet somehow the company continues to be incapable of fixing its abuse problem \u2014 talking instead about how it offers tools <\/a>for people to manage their exposure to content on the platform.<\/p>\n A response which merely highlights how flawed the Twitter leadership\u2019s perspective on this issue is.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s generally true that anti-troll tools are used by trolls against their victims,\u201d agrees law academic Paul Bernal, who has tweeted a series of thoughts on the McGowan suspension<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe rely on algorithms to our peril,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the unfortunate contrast between Twitter giving U.S. president Donald Trump the thumbs up to tweet-threaten nuclear apocalypse because it\u2019s \u201cnewsworthy<\/a>\u201d vs a victim of sexual abuse, the name of whose abuser is now all over the news on account of new allegations of abuse against him, being silenced because \u2014 well, why??<\/p>\n Presumably sexual violence against women is not considered “newsworthy” at @Twitter<\/a> HQ<\/p>\n\n
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