Twitter has announced that it is introducing a tougher stance on what it regards as hateful or harmful content on the site, with new rules on imagery outlined for the first time.

People will no longer have to tweet hateful content themselves to receive a suspension from the social platform; instead, content that affiliates them with a group known to advocate violence - such as a retweet - will be enough to get them suspended permanently.

Twitter is also introducing new 'sensitive media' warnings to hide imagery deemed to be hateful, meaning that users will have to pass through barriers before they are able to view it. It is hoped that this will stop certain images from cropping up on vulnerable and impressionable users' timelines unexpectedly.

A Twitter spokeswoman confirmed: "If an account's profile information includes a violent threat or multiple slurs, epithets, racist or sexist tropes, incites fear or reduces someone to less than human, it will be permanently suspended."