Child sexual exploitation policy

Twitter rules

Twitter does not tolerate any material that features or promotes child sexual exploitation. This may include media, text, illustrated, or computer generated images. 

Rationale 

Regardless of the intent, viewing, sharing, or linking to child sexual exploitation media contributes to the re-victimization of the depicted minor and, therefore, is not allowed on Twitter. This also applies to content that may further contribute to victimization of children through promotion or glorification of child sexual exploitation.

When this applies 

For the purposes of this policy, a minor means any person under the age of 18 years. Examples of content that depicts or promotes child sexual exploitation include, but are not limited to: 

• Visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit or sexually suggestive act. 
• Illustrated, computer-generated or other forms of realistic depictions of a human minor in a sexually explicit context, or engaged in a sexually explicit act. 
• Links to third-party sites that host child sexual exploitation material.

The following behaviors are also not allowed on Twitter: 

• Fantasizing about or promoting engagement in child sexual exploitation.
• Expressing a desire to obtain materials that feature child sexual exploitation.
• Recruiting, advertising or expressing interest in: (1) a commercial sex act involving a child, or (2) in harboring and/or transporting a child for sexual purposes.
• Sending sexually explicit images to a child.
• Engaging a minor in a sexually explicit conversation.
• Trying to obtain sexually explicit images from a minor or trying to recruit a minor for sexual services through incentive or blackmail.
• Identifying alleged victims of childhood sexual exploitation by name or photo. 

Consequences

In the majority of cases, the consequence for violating our child sexual exploitation policy is immediate and permanent suspension. In addition, violators will not be allowed to create new accounts in the future. 

In a limited number of situations when no malicious intent has been identified, users may instead be asked to remove the violating Tweet and be temporarily locked out of their account before they can Tweet again.

When we are made aware of links depicting or promoting child sexual exploitation they will be removed from the site without further notice and reported to The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

What you can do

If you think you've found a Twitter account distributing or promoting child sexual exploitation, please report it through our designated form. Please provide the username and links to the relevant tweets that lead you to believe the account should be investigated. For help on how to find the direct status links to individual Tweets, see our help page. 

If you have found content elsewhere on the internet that is distributing or promoting child sexual exploitation, you should file a report with NCMEC here or with your local law enforcement. If you believe the content is hosted on a website outside of the United States, you can report it on the International Association of Internet Hotlines website.

Our partners 

We partner with multiple organisations around the world whose work is dedicated to fighting child sexual exploitation. You can find a full list of our safety partners here.