• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 3, 2017

Another day, another attempt by Twitter to explain its confusing posting policies.

“We just published a clearer version of the Twitter Rules to clarify our policies and how we enforce them,” CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted on Friday.

The latest set of Rules are short on concrete changes, but long on additional rationale for controversial policies and enforcement methods. That includes updating its media policy Help Center page to include expectation-setting examples of the types of content covered by the policy.

For example, the company wants to make it clearer that context is critical when evaluating abusive behavior and determining appropriate enforcement actions. 

That means determining if the behavior in question is targeted, if a report has been filed and by whom, and if the tweet itself is newsworthy. It's all part of what Twitter calls “the legitimate public interest.”

Twitter was recently criticized  for not policing President Trump’s tweeted threats against North Korea. While the taunts would normally have triggered Twitter’s anti-aggression policy, the company said at the time their “newsworthiness” made them more acceptable.

Twitter is also trying to better define spam and spam-prevention measures. Rather than reviewing the factual accuracy of spam, the company says that it focuses on behavioral signals.

Along with Facebook, Twitter has faced enormous criticism for failing to prevent the spread of factually inaccurate information. In particular, the network unwittingly allowed Russian agents to circulate false and misleading information in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Additionally, Twitter is providing more specific detail about the types of content it considers “graphic violence” and “adult content.”

Separately, Twitter is stressing how seriously it takes intentions of suicide and self-harm, and how it communicates with anyone promoting or encouraging this type of behavior.

In the coming weeks, Twitter plans to launch separate pages for each of its policies in an effort to provide more context and rationale. Regarding its content reviewing and enforce procedures, Twitter plans to release addition details in a separate update on November 14.