Twitter’s anti-harassment features: a relief to all users
In an attempt to put an end to abusive content, Twitter has come out with a series of updates. Twitter will not allow users who were banned from the platform to use a different username and sign up. According to The Guardian, Twitter has suspended about 3,60,000 accounts over the year for policy violation.
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Another new feature, the ‘self-search’ filter, removes sensitive content from blocked and muted accounts. These tweets will not appear in general search results. Twitter will also be employing machine learning to find abusive and low quality replies. These replies will then be collapsed so that they do not intervene with the better ones. Simply put, the more relevant conversations will appear first.
Additionally, users can also mute specific words (including certain usernames) for a day, a week, or a month if they find them abusive or inappropriate.
More filtering options will also be provided. This means that you could mute accounts that do not have an image or a profile photo. The default picture is that of a Twitter egg. Tweets from such accounts will only allow specific followers to see them.
Above all, Twitter is also trying to work on their reporting process. They say that in the course of time, users will be able to hear more about the accounts or tweets that are reported to them. Users can also receive notifications regarding the status of the harassment reports.
Verifying users, developing anti-harassment tools, and implementing bans come as a relief to several users who were harassed by random and unwanted tweets. It also stops users who used Twitter as a platform for abuse and bullying.
Twitter has also requested users for their support as these changes are implemented globally. With the combined effort of users and the proper algorithms in place, it looks like a lot of much-awaited changes are to be soon seen on the platform.