text: The company modifies its rules and says it will add more staff to vet flagged tweets, after an outcry in Britain over tweeted rape and bomb threats to female journalists and a member of Parliament. 
   
   A tweeted bomb threat received by Time magazine Europe Editor Catherine Mayer. A member of Parliament also received a rape threat by way of Twitter. (Credit: Time 
   
   Twitter has updated its rules for users and is adding more staff to police abusive tweets after an uproar and an arrest in the U.K. over rape and bomb threats, and a day before a scheduled boycott of the service. 
   
   Twitter U.K. sent a tweet this morning pointing users to a blog post that announces the rules and staffing changes and reiterates that a "report abuse" button will be added to mobile and Web versions of the site. And Twitter U.K. General Manager Tony Wang later confirmed that the changes were being made worldwide. 
   
   Related story Twitter to simplify the reporting of abusive tweets, after outcry over rape threats 
   
   "I personally apologize to the women who have experienced abuse on Twitter and for what they have gone through," Wang wrote in a series of follow-up tweets. "The abuse they've received is simply not acceptable. It's not acceptable in the real world, and it's not acceptable on Twitter...There is more we can and will be doing to protect our users against abuse. That is our commitment." 
   
   The new rules include an Abuse and Spam section that addresses targeted abuse: 
   
   Targeted Abuse: You may not engage in targeted abuse or harassment. Some of the factors that we take into account when determining what conduct is considered to be targeted abuse or harassment are: ♦ if you are sending messages to a user from multiple accounts; 
   
   ♦ if the sole purpose of your account is to send abusive messages to others; 
   
   ♦ if the reported behavior is one-sided or includes threats. 
   
   The blog post also mentions additional measures that Twitter UK, specifically, is taking. The UK branch will work with the UK Safer Internet Center to "expand user resources on digital citizenship and staying safe online" and will also "use the Twitter platform -- including Promoted Tweets and a Promoted Trend" to publicize the center and its resources. 
   
   The moves follow outcry in Britain over abuse on the site. Earlier this month, freelance journalist and feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez was subjected to a blizzard of abusive tweets, including rape threats, after she and others successfully lobbied to have novelist Jane Austen featured on a U.K. banknote. 
   
   Criado-Perez and others called on Twitter to simplify the reporting of abuse and to take more responsibility for content on its site, and Scotland Yard arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with abusive tweets. 
   
   Others caught in the crossfire included Member of Parliament Stella Creasy, who also received a tweeted rape threat, and several female journalists, including Time magazine Europe Editor Catherine Mayer, who received tweeted bomb threats. Those threats came even after the Scotland Yard arrest. 
   
   The situation led to a volley of commentary by members of the British press, including a call from Times of London columnist Caitlin Moran to boycott Twitter on August 4, International Friendship Day, for a #trolliday. 
   
   Britain's Labor Party had also criticized Twitter's initial response to the abusive tweets against Criado-Perez, with Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper writing to the company, "social media platforms also have a responsibility for the platform they give users. And in particular they have a responsibility not to tolerate this kind of abuse, rape threats, and potentially criminal behavior...The response by Twitter has clearly been inadequate and fails not only Caroline, but many more women and girls who have faced similar abuse." ||||| After rape and bomb threats, site to updates rules, roll out 'report abuse' button more widely and use extra staff to police tweets 
   
   Twitter has issued new rules to try to clamp down on abusive behaviour in the wake of rape and bomb threats made against female journalists, an MP and a feminist campaigner. 
   
   In a message posted on the Twitter UK blog on Saturday, the senior director for trust and safety, Del Harvey, and UK general manager, Tony Wang, said the microblogging site had updated its rules to make it clear that abuse would not be tolerated. 
   
   Extra staff had been put in place to handle reports of abuse and from next month an in-tweet "report abuse" button, already available on some mobile devices, would be rolled out on the main Twitter website and apps. 
   
   "We want people to feel safe on Twitter, and we want the Twitter rules to send a clear message to anyone who thought that such behaviour was, or could ever be, acceptable," they wrote. 
   
   The announcement came after police revealed they were investigating allegations by eight people of abuse or threatening behaviour on the site. Scotland Yard said its e-crime unit was looking into the claims, three of which involved incidents outside London. 
   
   Twitter found itself in the spotlight after three female journalists, including the Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, said they had been the subject of bomb threats on the site, while the Labour MP Stella Creasy and the campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez received threats of rape. 
   
   The threats provoked a backlash online, and a petition calling for Twitter to add a "report abuse" button to tweets attracted more than 120,000 signatures. 
   
   Twitter said it was working with the UK Safer Internet Centre, which promotes the safe and responsible use of technology. 
   
   The bomb threat tweet was sent to Freeman, the Europe editor of Time magazine, Catherine Mayer, and the Independent columnist Grace Dent, who took a screen grab of the tweet and posted it for her Twitter followers to see. The message was also sent to a number of other women. 
   
   In separate incidents, Creasy and Criado-Perez, who successfully fought for a woman's face to appear on £10 banknotes, were threatened on Twitter with rape. Two arrests have already been made in relation to those threats. 
   
   In a statement, the Metropolitan police said an investigation into eight allegations had been launched into all the claims. 
   
   "Detectives from the specialist organised and economic crime command have taken responsibility for the investigations into a number of allegations recently made to the MPS relating to allegations of malicious communication made on the social networking site Twitter. 
   
   "The police central e-crime unit (PCeU), who hold the police national cybercrime remit, is now investigating allegations made by eight people that they have been subject to harassment, malicious communication or bomb threats. 
   
   "Whilst outside PCeU's cyber operational remit, the MPS has taken the decision to centralise the individual investigations, including three that are outside London, to make the most effective use of resources avoid duplication." 
   
   The anonymous Twitter accounts from which the bomb threats originated were suspended. 
   
   Steve White, of the Police Federation, said on Saturday that the problem was "unpoliceable" and more needed to be done by social media organisations. 
   
   He told BBC Breakfast: "The organisations that run these social media platforms probably need to take a long hard look, they need to take some responsibility. It's much like when you go into a shop – there are prevention measures within shops, whether it be security guards or things locked away that you can't get to, which is going to prevent crime – and I think social media sites need to think long and hard about being able to prevent it from happening in the first place." ||||| After an outcry from the United Kingdom in response to online threats against women, Twitter is revising its policy on how to handle abuse. 
   
   The Twitter bird in the company's official logo. (Photo: Twitter) Story Highlights Twitter updates policy on abuse following backlash in U.K. 
   
   Twitter is introducing "in-tweet" report abuse button 
   
   More than 125,000 signed a petition for a zero tolerance policy on abuse 
   
   Twitter announced plans to crack down on abusive behavior in response to recent online threats against women in the United Kingdom. 
   
   Police in the U.K. are investigating rape threats made on Twitter against feminist Caroline Criado-Perez and Labour Party politician Stella Creasy, and bomb threats against several female journalists, including Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, The Guardian reports. 
   
   A post on the U.K. Twitter blog mentioned plans to add additional staff to the teams that handle abuse reports and updates to the Twitter Rules. 
   
   An "in-tweet" report abuse button had been introduced in the Twitter app on Apple devices and the mobile website. Next month the button will also be available in the Android app and on Twitter.com. 
   
   More than 125,000 signed a petition on Change.org demanding that Twitter add the abuse-reporting button to tweets and adopt a zero tolerance policy on abuse. 
   
   "Abuse on Twitter is common; sadly, too common. And it frequently goes ignored," the petition reads. 
   
   "It comes down to this: People deserve to feel safe on Twitter," Del Harvey, senior director of trust and safety, and Tony Wang, Twitter's U.K. general manager posted to the U.K. Twitter blog. "Over the past week, we've been listening to your feedback on how we can improve our service. You told us that we need to make our rules clearer, simplify our abuse-reporting process, and promote the responsible use of Twitter." 
   
   In a series of tweets from his personal account, Wang says, "I personally apologize to the women who have experienced abuse on Twitter and for what they have gone through." 
   
   "The abuse they've received is simply not acceptable. It's not acceptable in the real world, and it's not acceptable on Twitter." 
   
   "There is more we can and will be doing to protect our users against abuse. That is our commitment." 
   
   Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1cyFn47
target: – Twitter is finally cracking down on abuse after a number of incidents in the UK where high-profile women were threatened via tweet. Both a feminist activist and a politician were threatened with rape last month, while several female journalists were tweeted bomb threats, reports USA Today. After an online petition garnered 125,000 signatures calling for Twitter to take "a zero tolerance policy on abuse," and criticism from British journalists and politicians, the social media service has announced it will change its rules and add a "report abuse" button for tweets, the Guardian reports. The new rules state that users "may not engage in targeted abuse or harassment," especially if "the reported behavior is one-sided or includes threats," CNET reports. In a blog post by Twitter UK, the service says it will also add extra staff members to handle abuse complaints, and will work with the UK Safer Internet Centre "to expand our user resources on digital citizenship and staying safe online."