This is not the place to scour for new romantic partners, say many, who want the site to retain its original purpose
Social media giant Twitter has upgraded its rules against hateful conduct to include posts that 'dehumanises' others on the basis of religion.
The move coincides with the UAE's Year of Tolerance ethos, Twitter said, adding the policy had been put together after "months of conversations and feedback" from the public, experts and its own teams.
The social media platform sought feedback from Arabic, English, Spanish and Japanese-speaking members to update the policy.
Taking effect on Wednesday, the policy covered content that dehumanises others based on their membership in an identifiable group, even when the material does not include a direct target.
Defining 'dehumanising' on its blog, Twitter said: "Examples can include comparing groups to animals and viruses (animalistic), or reducing groups to a tool for some other purpose (mechanistic)."
An identifiable group is defined as any group of people that can be distinguished by their shared characteristics, such as their race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, serious disease, occupation, political beliefs, location or social practices.
Such tweets, it stated, will be removed from the platform when they're reported.
Some of the examples of posts that Twitter stated would be removed were: "(Religious groups) are viruses. They are making this country sick"; "We don't want more (religious group) in this country. Enough is enough with those ..."
If reported, existing tweets that violate the rule - which were posted before July 10 - need to be deleted, but will not directly result in account suspensions.
saman@khaleejtimes.com
This is not the place to scour for new romantic partners, say many, who want the site to retain its original purpose
Dr Amna Al Dahak has stated that the National Committee for Food Safety has partially approved the ban already
The facility will provide greater access to residents from Liwa, Mirfa, Gayathi, Ruwais, Tarif from Western Region
Certificate needs to be presented at check-in for inspection prior to flying from Abu Dhabi, says airline
Among other variants of yellow metal, 22K opened at Dh246.25, 21K at Dh238.25 and 18K at Dh204.25 per gram
He was in charge of the cash office at a branch of the hypermarket in Abu Dhabi
From ordering the impromptu release of prisoners by sunset to paying for the cancer treatment of a woman abandoned by family, the UAE leader's generosity is his legacy on Zayed Humanitarian Day
Experts believe a ban could be detrimental and may not suitably prepare children to make the right choices in future