Twitter promises to get "more aggressive" in tackling online harassment

You don't usually have to wait too long for some kind of controversy to erupt on Twitter, and most of the time it revolves around the issues of abuse and harassment online - hence this week's #WomenBoycottTwitter protest.

Now Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has taken to the online platform that he runs to tell users that "a more aggressive stance" is going to be taken in the future. While details are a little thin on the ground, he's promising more information next week.

"We see voices being silenced on Twitter every day," says Dorsey. "We've been working to counteract this for the past two years. We prioritized this in 2016. We updated our policies and increased the size of our teams. It wasn't enough."

Top priority

Twitter is often accused of a slow and haphazard response to hate speech, online abuse and persistent trolling, but Dorsey insists these issues continue to be the "top priority" for the Twitter team in 2017.

The new rules heading towards Twitter focus on "unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual nudity, hate symbols, violent groups, and tweets that glorify violence" according to Dorsey. The changes, whatever they happen to involve, are going to be rolling out in the next few weeks.

With Twitter so useful for everything from breaking news to tracking deals, let's hope the platform can sort out its persistent harassment and free speech issues and get back on track - even if it is becoming more like Facebook all the time.