Twitter expands hate speech rules to include race, ethnicity

Twitter Inc on Wednesday expanded its policy barring hateful speech to include “language that dehumanizes people on the basis of race, ethnicity and national origin,” it said in a statement.

The company banned speech that dehumanizes others based on religion or caste last year and updated the rule in March to add age, disability and disease to the list of protected categories.

Civil rights group Color of Change, part of a coalition of advocacy organizations that have been pushing tech companies to reduce hate speech online, called the changes “essential concessions” following years of outside pressure.