Private Content
Overview
March 2024
You may not threaten to expose, incentivize others to expose, or publish or post other people's private information without their express authorization and permission, or share private media of individuals without their consent.
Sharing someone’s private information online without their permission, sometimes called “doxxing,” is a breach of their privacy and can pose serious safety and security risks for those affected.
Additionally, posting images is an important part of our users' experience on X. However, where individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in an individual piece of media, we believe they should be able to determine whether or not it is shared. When we are notified by individuals depicted, or their authorized representative, that they did not consent to having media shared, we will remove the media. This policy is not applicable to public figures.
Lastly, having sexual, nude, or intimate media shared without express consent not only severely violates someone’s privacy and psychological safety, but can lead to physical, emotional, and financial hardship and we work tirelessly to remove this content immediately.
When reviewing reports under our Private Content policies, we consider a number of things, including:
What type of information is being shared? Certain types of private information carry higher risks than others, if they’re shared without permission. Our primary goal is to protect individuals from potential physical harm as a result of their information being shared, so we consider information such as physical location and phone numbers to be a higher risk than other types of information.
Who is sharing the information? It’s important to consider who is sharing the reported information and whether or not they have the consent of the person it belongs to. We know there are times when people may want some forms of their personal information to be shared publicly, such as for professional networking, coordinating social events, or seeking help after a natural disaster.
Is the information available elsewhere online? If the reported information was shared somewhere else before it was shared on X, such as someone sharing their personal phone number on their own publicly accessible website, we may not consider this information to be private, as the owner has made it publicly available elsewhere. However, we may take action against home addresses being shared, even if they are publicly available, due to the potential for physical harm.
Why is the information being shared? The intent of the person sharing the information is also important to assess before taking action. For example, if we believe that someone is sharing information with abusive intent, or to harass another person, we will take action. On the other hand, if someone is sharing information in an effort to help someone involved in a crisis situation, we may not take action.
What is in violation of this policy?
Posting Private Information
You cannot share the following types of private information without the permission of the person it belongs to:
home address or physical location information, such as street addresses, GPS coordinates, or other identifying information related to locations that are considered private
identity documents, such as government-issued IDs or social security or other national identity numbers
contact information, such as non-public personal phone numbers, email addresses, or passwords
- financial account information, such as bank account or credit card details
- health-related private information, such as biometric data or medical records
- the identity of an anonymous user, such as their name or media depicting them
The following behaviors are also not permitted:
threatening to publicly expose someone’s private information
sharing information that would enable individuals to hack or gain access to someone’s private information without their consent, such as sharing login credentials for online banking services
asking for or offering a bounty or financial reward in exchange for posting someone’s private information
asking for a bounty or financial reward in exchange for not posting someone’s private information, sometimes referred to as blackmail.
Non-Consensual Nudity
You cannot share sexual, nude, or intimate media (photos/videos) without the permission of the person involved, or that was taken or appears to have been taken without the consent of the people involved. This includes:
hidden camera content featuring nudity, partial nudity, and/or sexual acts
creepshots or upskirts - images or videos taken of people’s buttocks, up an individual’s skirt/dress or other clothes that allows people to see the person’s genitals, buttocks, or breasts
images or videos that superimpose or otherwise digitally manipulate an individual’s face onto another person’s nude body
images or videos that are taken in an intimate setting and not intended for public distribution
The following behaviors are also not permitted:
threatening to publicly expose someone’s sexual, nude, or intimate media
sharing information that would enable individuals to hack or gain access to someone’s sexual, nude, or intimate media without their consent, such as sharing login credentials for a private photo album
asking for or offering a bounty or financial reward in exchange for posting someone’s sexual, nude, or intimate media
asking for a bounty or financial reward in exchange for not posting someone’s sexual, nude, or intimate media, sometimes referred to as blackmail.
Right to Privacy
You cannot share media (photos/videos) of private individuals without the permission of the person(s) depicted.
What is not a violation of this policy?
Posting Private Information
The following are not in violation of this policy:
people sharing their own private information
sharing information that is publicly available elsewhere, in a non-abusive manner
sharing identity documents or social security or other national identity numbers from regions where this information is not considered to be private
sharing information that we don’t consider to be private, including:
names
birthdates or ages
places of education or employment
location information related to commercial properties or places of business, where this information is publicly available
descriptions of physical appearance
gossip, rumors, accusations, and allegations
screenshots of text messages or messages from other platforms (unless they contain private information, such as someone’s phone number).
Non-Consensual Nudity
Pornography and other forms of consensually-produced adult content are allowed on X, provided you mark the post or mark your account as sensitive. Doing so provides people who may not want to see this type of content with a warning that they will need to acknowledge before viewing your media. If you don’t mark your media as sensitive, we may do so manually if your content is reported for review.
Right to Privacy
The following are not in violation of this policy:
the media is publicly available or is being covered by mainstream media
the media and the accompanying tweet text add value to the public discourse or are shared in public interest
the media contains eyewitness accounts or on the ground reports from developing events
the subject of the media is a public figure.
Who can report violations of this policy?
Posting Private Information
Anyone can report violations of this policy using our dedicated reporting flow when the private information has been shared in a clearly abusive way. When this isn’t the case, we may need to hear directly from the owner of the private information (or an authorized representative, such as a lawyer) before taking action.
Non-Consensual Nudity
Due to X allowing some types of adult content on the platform, we may need additional context to determine if the content was created or shared without the consent of those involved. This means we may need to hear directly from the individual(s) featured (or an authorized representative, such as a lawyer) to ensure that we have sufficient context before taking any enforcement action.
However, to reduce the burden on those affected by non-consensual media, anyone can report the following types of content:
creepshots or upskirts
content where a bounty or financial reward is offered in exchange for non-consensual nudity media
intimate images or videos that are accompanied by text that wishes/hopes for harm to come to those depicted or otherwise refers to revenge, such as “I hope you get what you deserve when people see this”
intimate images or videos that are accompanied by information that could be used to contact those depicted, such as “you can tell my ex what you think by calling them at 123-456-7890.”
Right to Privacy
When reporting private media, we need a first person report in order to make the determination that the image or video has been shared without their permission. We accept reports from:
the individuals depicted in the reported media or
their authorized representative, such as:
parents/legal guardians
lawyers
legal representatives.
What happens if you violate this policy?
When determining the penalty for violating this policy, we consider a number of factors including, but not limited to the severity of the violation and an individual’s previous record of rule violations. The following is a list of potential enforcement options for content that violates this policy:
Requiring post removal.
For example, we may ask someone to remove the violating content and serve a period of time in read-only mode before they can post again. Subsequent violations may lead to account suspension.
Suspending accounts whose sole purpose is to post others’ private information or media of any kind. This includes accounts dedicated to sharing upskirt or creepshot media.
Learn more about our range of enforcement options. If someone believes their posts or account were enforced against in error, they can submit an appeal.