Twitter expands rules to better protect against religious hate

Twitter Inc. expanded its user guidelines Tuesday to ban tweets that “dehumanize others on the basis of religion,” and will require users who share those tweets to delete them in order to regain control over their account.

The social media site previously banned users from harassing others based on their religious beliefs, or using dehumanizing language, such as calling someone a “rat” or a “virus” because of their religion. But that was at a personal level, meaning the abuser would need to specifically call out another individual in order to violate the rule.