Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2021 OA PDF

Protecting Pandemic Conversations: Tracing Twitter’s Evolving Content Policies During COVID-19

Lacy Hope Utah Tech University

Abstract

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter has served as a leading public platform for sharing, receiving, and engaging with virus-related content. To protect users from misinformation, Twitter has enforced stricter content-vetting policies. This article positions Twitter as a politically motivated entity and briefly traces Twitter’s use and applications of the term “harmful content.” The author investigates how the platform’s broadening of its definition of harmful content illustrates Twitter’s strategy for combating misinformation by acting on kairotic moments in a way that is shaped by the diverse authoritative voices already guiding larger public COVID-19 discussions. The article concludes by examining the roles these observations can play in technical and professional communication classrooms.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2021-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651920958393
Open Access
OA PDF Bronze
Topics
social media professional writing race and writing multilingual writers voice and style

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Zhu et al. (2026)
    From Monologue to Dialogue: Communication Strategies of Chinese Museums on Weib…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Jordan et al. (2025)
    Queer Potential in Professional Communication: “Queer Use” & Terms of Service
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Chen (2025)
    Constructed <i>Ethos</i> and <i>Kairotic</i…
    Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (3)

  1. Vie (2017)
    Training Online Technical Communication Educators to Teach with Social Media: B…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Bowdon (2014)
    Tweeting an Ethos: Emergency Messaging, Social Media, and Teaching Technical Co…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Artemeva (2005)
    A Time to Speak, a Time to Act
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Also cites 1 work outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1177/1461444809342738
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network →

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