San Francisco, Nov 4 (IANS): Facing criticism over the years for its poor handling of "abuse", Twitter has "updated" its rules, to clarify its policies on graphic violence, spam and self-harm among others.

"Today, we're publishing a new version of the 'Twitter Rules' to clarify our policies and how we enforce them.

"The fundamentals of our policies and our approach have not changed, this updated version presents our rules with more details and examples," Twitter wrote in a blog post late on Friday.

The changes are a part of revamp to Twitter's policies surrounding online abuse.

The biggest updates on the platform include abusive behaviour, self-harm, spam and related behaviours, graphic violence and adult content.

"On November 22, we will share another version of our rules which will include new policies around violent groups, hateful imagery and abusive usernames.

"As always, we are looking forward to continuing working to make Twitter safer, together," the company added.

Earlier in October, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had said that the social media platform would take a more aggressive stance in its rules and its enforcement of them.

Dorsey, in his announcement which was a response to the #WomenBoycottTwitter protest, said that the platform would develop new rules for things like unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual nudity, hate symbols, violent groups, and tweets that glorify violence.