Twitter will now remove images or videos of the deceased at the request of family members, according to a tweet from the company’s spokeperson.
The decision comes following bullying of Zelda Williams on the social networking site after the death of her father, actor Robin Williams, which led to her quitting the social media ‘Twitter’. The company says that its latest move is “in order to respect the wishes of loved ones,” but also hedged that images will be removed only “in certain circumstances.”
In order to remove the media, family members or other authorized individuals have to send an email to [email protected]. However, Twitter says it has to take into account “public interest factors such as the newsworthiness of the content” and may not accede to every single request that comes in.