Twitter bans stolen nude photos and revenge porn

"You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent," the company added to its rules on Wednesday. Twitter otherwise allows pornographic content, but not in people's profiles, headers or background images.

Content that is identified as violating Twitter's policies will be hidden from public view, and users posting it will have their accounts locked. Users will be required to delete the content in question before they can return to using the site.

Twitter will act in response to specific, identified instances of such content, which can be reported through Twitter's existing tools for flagging abusive content, a company spokesman said.

Twitter made the changes as the company faces rising pressure to better combat harassment on its site, particularly against women. Late last year the company rolled out new tools to make it easier to report abuse, which it further improved for mobile devices last month.

Reddit, meanwhile, recently installed a ban on revenge porn and stolen nude photos on its site.

News of Twitter's ban on revenge porn was reported earlier by BuzzFeed.

Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com