Twitter's Violent Threats Policy

Overview

March 2019

You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence.

Healthy conversation is only possible when people feel safe from abuse and don’t resort to using violent language. For this reason, we have a policy against threatening violence on Twitter. We define violent threats as statements of an intent to kill or inflict serious physical harm on a specific person or group of people.

What is in violation of this policy?

Under this policy, you can’t state an intention to inflict violence on a specific person or group of people. We define intent to include statements like “I will”, “I’m going to”, or “I plan to”, as well as conditional statements like “If you do X, I will”. Violations of this policy include, but are not limited to:

threatening to kill someone;

threatening to sexually assault someone;

threatening to seriously hurt someone and/or commit a other violent act that could lead to someone’s death or serious physical injury; and

asking for or offering a financial reward in exchange for inflicting violence on a specific person or group of people.

What is not a violation of this policy?

We recognize that some people use violent language as part of hyperbolic speech or between friends, so we also allow some forms of violent speech where it’s clear that there is no abusive or violent intent, e.g., “I’ll kill you for sending me that plot spoiler!”.

This policy is enforced in tandem with our policies on abusive behavior and hateful conduct. Statements that express a wish or hope that someone experiences physical harm, making vague or indirect threats, or threatening actions that are unlikely to cause serious or lasting injury are not actionable under this policy, but may be reviewed and actioned under those policies. Note: we also have a policy against encouraging self-harm and suicide.

Who can report violations of this policy?

Anyone can report potential violations of this policy, whether they have a Twitter account or not.

How can I report violations of this policy?

In-app

You can report this content for review in-app as follows:

Select Report Tweet from the icon.

Select It’s abusive or harmful.

Select Threatening violence or physical harm.

Select the relevant option depending on who you are reporting on behalf of.

Select up to 5 Tweets to report for review.

Submit your report.

Desktop

You can report this content for review via desktop as follows:

Select Report Tweet from the icon.

Select It’s abusive or harmful.

Select Threatening violence or physical harm.

Select the relevant option depending on who you are reporting on behalf of.

Select up to 5 Tweets to report for review.

Submit your report.

Report form

You can also report this content for review via our abusive behavior reporting form, by selecting the Specific violent threats involving physical safety or well-being option.

What happens if you violate this policy?

We will immediately and permanently suspend any account found to be posting violent threats.

In rare cases, we may not suspend an account immediately. For example, if the reported content is a form of hyperbolic speech. In such cases, we may require you to remove this content. We may also temporarily lock you out of your account before you can Tweet again. If you continue to violate this policy after receiving a warning, your account will be permanently suspended. If you believe that your account was suspended in error, you can submit an appeal.

Additional resources

Learn more about our range of enforcement options and our approach to policy development and enforcement.