Social media giant Twitter recently announced it is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that its platform is safer.
In a blog post, the company revealed that it has made a number of changes including updating how users can report abusive Tweets, stopping the creation of new abusive accounts, implementing safer search results, collapsing abusive or low-quality Tweets, and reducing notifications from conversations started by people users have blocked or muted.
The company also announced it is introducing additional updates that leverage their technology to reduce abusive content, give users more tools to control their experience, and communicate more clearly about actions Twitter take.
Leveraging Twitter technology to reduce abusive content
“We’re working to identify accounts as they’re engaging in abusive behavior, even if this behavior hasn’t been reported to us. Then, we’re taking action by limiting certain account functionality for a set amount of time, such as allowing only their followers to see their Tweets. For example, this change could come into effect if an account is repeatedly Tweeting without solicitation at non-followers or engaging in patterns of abusive behavior that is in violation of the Twitter Rules. Our platform supports the freedom to share any viewpoint, but if an account continues to repeatedly violate the Twitter Rules, we will consider taking further action,” Twitter stated.
The company said it is aiming to only act on accounts when they’re confident, based on Twitter algorithms, that their behavior is abusive.
“Since these tools are new we will sometimes make mistakes, but know that we are actively working to improve and iterate on them everyday,” Twitter said.
More control with additional tools
Twitter also announced the introduction of new filtering options for notifications to give users more control over what they see from certain types of accounts, like those without a profile photo, unverified email addresses or phone numbers.
“Many people requested more filter options for their notifications, and we’re excited to bring these to everyone on Twitter,” the social media giant said.
“We’re also expanding the mute feature to build on the work we did in November which lets you remove certain keywords, phrases, or entire conversations from your notifications. Now, you’ll be able to mute from your home timeline and you can decide how long this content is muted – one day, one week, one month, or indefinitely. This was another big request from you and we’re looking forward to rolling it out.”
