Elliot Page: Twitter accused of letting actor’s deadname trend despite its hateful conduct policy

‘Our teams are constantly evaluating our internal processes for mitigating this from happening,’ Twitter says

Twitter is being accused of letting Elliot Page’s deadname trend for approximately 45 minutes despite the platform’s hateful conduct policy.

The 35-year-old actor’s deadname – the name he used before coming out as a transgender man in 2020 – was trending on Twitter on Tuesday (5 July).

According to Twitter’s hateful conduct policy, users are prohibited from “targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanise, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category.

“This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”

According to Buzzfeed, Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy confirmed the site had removed Page’s deadname as a trending topic.

In a statement, Kennedy said that allowing Page’s deadname to trend was a mistake.

(Getty Images)

“The term you referenced should not have been allowed to appear in trends, and it has since been removed and prohibited from appearing in trends,” Kennedy said. “Our teams are constantly evaluating our internal processes for mitigating this from happening.”

The Independent has contacted Page’s representatives for comment.

Last week, a tweet from Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson about the Umbrella Academy star was reportedly taken down for violating the social media platform’s rules against hateful conduct.