Twitter on Tuesday announced that the pictures or videos of deceased individuals will be removed from the micro-blogging network on request of their family members.
Twitter’s latest move comes in light of the bullying incident which forced Hollywood actor Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda Williams to quit the social blogging platform after photoshoped images of her deceased father surfaced on the website last week. It was after the incident that the company decided to take first steps in the direction to improve death handling policies.
Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler tweeted a statement on Tuesday which read that immediate family members and other authorized individuals of the deceased individual may request for removal of their images or videos from the social blogging platform, from the time when critical injury occurs to the moments before or after death by sending an e-mail to privacy@twitter.com along with a copy of the deceased person’s death certificate attached with the mail.
Twitter however noted that it will consider public interest factors such as the newsworthiness of the content while reviewing such media removal requests and may not be able to honour every single request that comes in. Family members can also request to get the deceased person’s Twitter account deactivated.
Even Facebook allows for removal of a deceased person’s Facebook account on request of verified immediate family members.
