The new rule is so obviously unworkable in allowing virtually ANY photo or video of a person that it becomes clear to have only been conceive for the purpose of selective enforcement, and given the flavorful language throughout Twitter's official announcement, it's easy to figure out who the intended target of selective enforcement is:
Now here's some fun thought experiments regarding the new rule:
What becomes of all media that was posted preceding this announcement? Must they all be deleted if they have real-life people? Will they only be deleted if a featured person demands it? Will deletion also be coupled with punishment towards the original poster?
What exactly constitutes a public figure who is automatically exempt from the rule? A politician? A school board member from one of the most prominent counties on the US? A city council member from Nowhere, Nebraska? A CEO? A small business owner? A customer-facing service worker? A PR rep? A police officer? A public school teacher? A Hollywood actor? A small-town theater actor? A street protester? A convicted murderer? A convicted serial petty criminal? An arrested criminal suspect? An acquitted former criminal suspect? A Youtuber/streamer with 10k followers? A person who once appeared in news or "viral" media?
If the only "mainstream/traditional media" to cover a piece of media content is Fox News, is the content fair game for everyone else to post? What about The Daily Wire? What about Breitbart? What about The Post Millennial?
How exactly does the mandatory permission for media work? Consider a video of Person A that's posted by Person B:
- How does Person B demonstrate that he got permission from Person A to post the video?
- What if Person A retroactively withdraws consent? Will the video be deleted? Will Person B be punished?
- Does permission for the video also apply automatically to other media derived from the same real event, such as individual screenshots of the video, a higher-quality version of the video, an embarrassing video edit, or an entirely different video that shows the event at a different angle?
- Can Person A give permission to Person B to post the video, but simultaneously deny permission for Person C to do the same?
- Can Person A give permission for anyone to post the video EXCEPT Person B?
- If Person A posted the video first, does that automatically give Person B permission to do the same? What if Person A later deletes his post?
Of course, all of the above questions are moot when the whole point of the new rule is selective enforcement.