?So vague, it invites abuse?: Twitter reviews controversial new privacy policy

Twitter is reviewing a controversial policy that penalizes users who share images of other users without their consent.

In a statement, Twitter said on Wednesday that the company was conducting "an internal review" of the policy after making several errors in enforcement.

"After this was rolled out, we became aware of a significant amount of coordinated and malicious reports and unfortunately, our enforcement teams made several errors," said Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy. "We've corrected those errors and are undergoing an internal review to make certain that this policy is used as intended - to curb the misuse of media to harass or intimidate private individuals."

The policy, announced last week, is intended to protect users against doxxing and harassment, two frequent problems on the platform.

The platform now allows users to report other users who tweet "private media that is not available elsewhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of individuals". If a review concludes the complaint has merit and the image wasn't used for a journalistic or public interest purpose, those accounts are deactivated.

Activists swiftly warned that the policy as it was published would backfire. The policy was vague and had been put together without much input from the communities most vulnerable to harassment and doxxing, the activists argued. They had little faith in Twitter's reporting and appeals process, which they described as unreliable, automated and allowing for little discussion about the enforcement of policies.

And indeed, hours after the policy became public, users affiliated with far-right movements like the Proud Boys and others espousing QAnon conspiracies put out calls to their followers, urging them to weaponize the new rules to target activists who had posted about them.