Twitter proclaims new guidelines about location sharing | Engadget

In November, for instance of his dedication to free speech, Elon Musk promised that he wouldn’t ban an account that tracked his private jet regardless of claiming it was a “direct personal safety risk.” Today, that account was suspended. Then restored. Then suspended once more. It’s not but clear what the longer term holds for @ElonJet, however its destiny might be tied to a new set of rules from Twitter Safety about the way it handles accounts sharing location info for different individuals.

According to a series of tweets outlining the new policy, sharing the dwell location of one other individual is now prohibited until it’s associated to a “public engagement or event,” like a live performance or a political occasion. “When someone shares an individual’s live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm,” the announcement reads. “Moving forward, we’ll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone else’s live location will be suspended.” The thread goes on to make clear that these guidelines solely apply to the placement of “someone else.” You can nonetheless Tweet your personal whereabouts.

Historical location info is allowed, nevertheless, as long as “a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm.” That a part of the coverage might go away room for an account like @Elonjet — and whereas the account was briefly restored this afternoon, on the time of this writing it’s as soon as once more suspended, as are the private accounts of Jack Sweeny, the faculty scholar who runs @Elonjet.