Safer Internet Day was an initiative of the EU SafeBorders project back in 2004. In 2005, it was taken up as one of the earliest actions of the Insafe network. As a result of all these efforts, Safer Internet Day was able to grow further beyond its traditional geographic zone. In addition, approximately 170 countries all over the world now celebrate it every year.
Moreover, this event covers different issues, such as social networking, cyberbullying, and digital identity. But one aim of Safer Internet Day is to raise awareness about the emerging online issues as well as current concerns.
The best sites to buy Twitter followers shows us that one of the biggest social media platforms on the internet right now, Twitter and their millions of followers, is participating every year in the said event. This year, it collaborated with safety partners from more than 140 countries. Together, they marked #SaferInternetDay2021 and
played their part in making the internet safer for every user.
The Theme for Safer Internet Day 2021
This year’s theme for the celebration of Safer Internet Day is “Together for a Better Internet.” According to Twitter, this theme speaks volumes about what they believe as an online service. This belief is that the internet can always be better and that it stays as a force for good. In addition, the social media giant said that it is everyone’s job to make it healthy and safe. Everyone contributes and has a role to play in doing this job.
As a way of celebrating the global conversation that revolves around Internet safety, Twitter launched a special emoji. Users can activate this emoji by using the hashtags #SID2021 and #SaferInternetDay. Twitter said that this emoji helps in strengthening and unifying the conversations on its platform, around safer internet.
Moreover, two of Twitter’s top priorities are the safety of its platform and the health of the public conversation. In the past years, the social media platform took steps in tackling abusive content on its service globally. As a result, it has seen a 105 percent increase in the accounts that are blocked and suspended from its platform for violating Twitter Rules.
Twitter also knows that there is still much more to do to maintain the safety of its platform. Still, it was able to make meaningful progress.
COVID-19 Pandemic: Making Sure That Twitter Users are Safe and Informed
The world is still facing the COVID-19 pandemic. As everyone limits physical contact, they turn to Twitter so they can discuss what is happening around them. They also use the platform in finding the latest authoritative public health information.
Here are some of the things that Twitter did to ensure that its platform remains a safe source of COVID-19 information:
In March last year, the social media giant launched a COVID-19 misleading information policy. The aim of this move is to protect the health of the public conversation. Ever since then, the company’s teams were able to take down 8,493 tweets. In addition, its automated systems have challenged a total of 11.5 million accounts targeting COVID-19 discussions with manipulative or spammy behaviors.
Twitter has also supported non-profit organizations around the globe in order to raise awareness of gender-based violence that surged during the “shadow pandemic.” It showed support by providing Ads for Good grants.
lAdditionally, the social media giant worked with International Association for Suicide Prevention in S6eptember 2020, during the World Suicide Prevention Day. The aim is to amplify suicidevention resources with more than 20 non-government organizations around the globe.
Finally, the social media platform expanded its COVID-19 misleading information policy in December last year. The aim of this move is to address tweets that has potentially harmful misleading information about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Twitter Launched #ThereIsHelp
The social media platform also partnered with nonprofit organizations and authorities around the globe to launch the #ThereIsHelp notification service. It provides resources to people who are vulnerable. In addition, it encourages them to reach out for help and get support when people search for certain terms on Twitter.
This year, it expanded the aforementioned prompts to a number of new markets. Before doing so, Twitter first consulted with local and global partners so that it can ensure that it is sharing the latest and most relevant resources in the #ThereIsHelp prompts all over the world. Moreover, the service was expanded in 24 markets in order to provide information about gender-based violence. On the other hand, the service that tackles suicide or self-harm was expanded in 30 markets.
The Expansion of Twitter’s Policies
2020 has seen a lot of development from Twitter. Throughout last year, the platform updated its rules against hateful conduct. This prohibits language that dehumanizes individuals based on disability, age, disease, ethnicity, race, and national origin. The policy also covers the abusive language that promotes conversion therapy that targets people or the whole LGBTQ+ community.
The policies that further protect the civic conversation also expanded. The goal of the social media giant for this step is to protect people against content that could suppress the vote. It also aims to stop the dissemination of harmful information that could affect the integrity of an election as well as other civic processes.
Furthermore, the efforts to make Twitter a safer place on the internet were done in collaboration with the company’s safety partners all around the globe. For this reason, taking part in the celebration of Safer Internet Day is important for the platform.
Final Thoughts
Twitter is definitely a huge platform. If you will compile all the conversations happening there, it will be impossible to control it. Fortunately, the social media giant is taking big steps in order to ensure that its users remain safe and informed with factual information. In fact, Twitter is protecting its users not only during Safe Internet Day but every day. As a result, Twitter users are now exposed to more factual and relevant information across different topics.