X, formerly Twitter, is reinstating its misgendering and deadnaming policy.
The Elon Musk-owned micro-blogging social media app's abuse and harassment policy was amended in April 2023 to remove the rule, however, it has now been brought back to prevent people being addressed with the wrong pronouns or name.
Whilst the tweets won't be removed, they will be less visible, with those who have been violated urged to report cases to X.
An update on X's abuse and harassment page read: “We will reduce the visibility of posts that purposefully use different pronouns to address someone other than what that person uses for themselves, or that use a previous name that someone no longer goes by as part of their transition.
Given the complexity of determining whether such a violation has occurred, we must always hear from the target to determine if a violation has occurred.”
It comes after Musk landed himself in hot water for his views on transgender people.
He previously said he considers the words "cis" and "cisgender" to be "slurs" on X/Twitter and a ban of the words is still in place.
The billionaire businessman - who acquired the micro-blogging platform for $44 billion in 2022 - made the comment in response to a user who complained of being harassed by trans rights activists.
The Twitter user wrote online: "Yesterday, after posting a Tweet saying that I reject the word ‘cis’ and don’t wish to be called it, I receive a slew of messages from trans activists calling me “cissy” and telling me that I am ‘cis’ “whether or not I like it”.
"Just imagine if the roles were reversed. (sic)"
In response, Musk tweeted: "Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions.
"The words “cis” or “cisgender” are considered slurs on this platform. (sic)"
The tweeter then said: "Thank you for standing up for reality, Elon."
A cisgender person has a gender identity that corresponds with their sex assigned at birth. By contrast, a transgender person is someone whose gender identity or expression does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.
Musk has been very outspoken since he acquired the micro-blogging platform, and Musk will continue to speak his mind - even if it costs him money.
