Twitter bans porn on Vine - but nudity used in art and education will be allowed

Vine is a service that lets users share six-second video clips
It was founded in June 2012 and bought by Twitter in October 2012
App has been criticised for allowing sexually explicit clips to be broadcast
Twitter has now banned pornographic clips on Vine, effective immediately
Nudity used in documentaries, artwork or education will be allowed
Users can report explicit Vines, and Twitter will ask offending content to be removed

PUBLISHED: 07:25 EST, 7 March 2014 | UPDATED: 07:27 EST, 7 March 2014

Twitter has officially banned pornographic images on its Vine app. It announced the changes on Thursday and the new rules come into effect immediately

It may have taken years of campaigning and complaints but Twitter has finally banned pornographic images on its Vine app.

The Californian-based firm, which bought the video sharing app in 2012, announced the changes on Thursday and the new rules come into effect immediately.

Within days of the app's official launch in January 2013, sexually explicit and pornographic clips began to appear and Twitter has been heavily criticised for not enforcing this ban sooner.

The new rules do come with a series of caveats, however. For example, nudity will be allowed in documentary style clips, if it forms part of an artwork or sculpture, or if it is used for educational purposes.

Breastfeeding clips are also allowed.

Elsewhere, sexually suggestive content is also allowed, such as suggestive dancing, as long as the people in the clip are clothed - although close-ups of aroused genitals underneath clothing are banned.

The new rules forbid any video of sex acts, sex toys used during sex acts, and sexually graphic animations.

'For more than 99 percent of our users, this doesn't really change anything, ' explained a Vine spokesman.

'For the rest: we don't have a problem with explicit sexual content on the internet - we just prefer not to be the source of it.'

Any user that violates this new policy faces being suspended and will only be able to have their account restored once they have removed any offending posts.

Twitter had to apologise weeks after the app's official launch when an explicit clip was made an Editor's Pick. Under the new rules, severe or repeated violations of the policy may result in permanent suspension. Users who believe their account has been suspended by mistake can appeal

PORN ON VINE: WHAT IS ALLOWED?

Vine defines explicit sexual content as any content that 'includes depictions of sex acts, nudity that is sexually provocative or in a sexual context, and graphic depictions of sexual arousal.'

What is okay to post?

Vine allows depictions of nudity or partial nudity that are primarily documentary, educational or artistic in nature.

This includes: Nudity in a documentary context, for example, videos of nude protestors.

Nudity in an artistic context, for example, nude modeling in an art class.

Nudity that is not sexually provocative, for example, a mother breastfeeding her child.

Clothed sexually suggestive dancing.

What is not okay to post?

Sex acts, whether alone or with another person, as well as use of sex toys for sex acts.

Sexually provocative nudity, for example, posts that focus on exposed genitalia or depict nudity in a context or setting that is sexually provocative - such as a strip club.

Close-ups of aroused genitals underneath clothing.

Art or animation that is sexually graphic

Source: Twitter Help Centre

Severe or repeated violation of the policy may result in permanent suspension.

Users who believe their account has been suspended by mistake can also appeal.

Other users can report clips that violate the policy to Twitter for it to investigate.

The site is also going to go back through previous posts.

'We're notifying users who have posted explicit sexual content in the past that they have a period to either take down or download their existing content using a new tool we've created,' continued the Vine spokesman.

The original minimum age for Vine was set at 12-years-old, but this was raised to 17 shortly after the app was launched, in part because of the high level of explicit content on the site.

Twitter also had to apologise weeks after the official launch when an explicit clip was made an Editor's Pick.

The site claimed the video appeared at the top of the homepage due to a 'human error' but had refused to take down such pornographic videos because it didn't want to censor its users.

During yesterday's new policy announcement, Vine said: 'We introduced Vine to make it easier for people to find, watch, create and share videos right from their mobile phones.

'As we've watched the community and your creativity grow and evolve, we've found that there's a very small percentage of videos that are not a good fit for our community.

'So we're making an update to our Rules and Terms of Service to prohibit explicit sexual content.'