Twitter bans religious insults calling groups rats or maggots

Twitter is updating its hate-speech rules to ban posts that liken religious groups to rats, viruses or maggots, among other dehumanising terms.

Over time, the ban would be extended to cover to some other groups, it said. 

But a public consultation had indicated users still wished to use dehumanising language to criticise political organisations and hate groups.

Tech companies have struggled to strike a balance between free expression and protecting users from attack.

Twitter said it had taken "months of conversations" to decide on the policy.

"Our primary focus is on addressing the risks of offline harm - and research shows that dehumanising language increases that risk," the company said in a blog.