Twitter Beefs Up Anti-Abuse Tools To Ban Trolls And Curb Bullying
Twitter has been on a mission over the last few months to curb cyber-bullying. Twitter users before were largely responsible for reporting accounts that they felt violated Twitter’s guidelines, but the social media giant is now taking on some of the responsibility for policing potentially abusive accounts.
Twitter is intent upon identifying bad behavior, regardless of whether or not it has been reported. The social networking services plans to limit the functionality of accounts who violate its terms of service. If the account continues to be “abusive”, Twitter “will consider taking further action”. Many users have already experienced the punishment for their bad behavior.
This past month, Twitter temporarily limited the reach of non-compliant accounts for an average of 12-hours. If a person tagged someone in a tweet who did not follow them, the tagged person did not see the message. Users were not only being banned for using specific naughty words, but for having an “abusive” account in general. Some claim that Twitter is putting a lid on free speech, while others have argued that whatever algorithm Twitter is using is taking certain words or phrases out of context.
Twitter has also expanded its filtering options. Users can now control who they see, such as those without a profile photo, unverified email addresses or phone numbers. It is expanding the function of the mute feature as well. This past November, users were able to “mute” certain keywords, phrases, or entire conversations. Now, Twitter users will also be able to mute from their own timeline and decide how long something will be muted.
To top everything off, Twitter claims its is working on being more transparent with the reporting process. Users will now be notified when Twitter has received their report and informed if further action was taken toward the reported account. Many users have claimed that they have not received a clear reason for being temporarily limited or banned on Twitter.
The social media network does admit, however, “We’re learning a lot as we continue our work to make Twitter safer – not just from the changes we ship but also from the mistakes we make, and of course, from feedback you share.”
Twitter is intent upon identifying bad behavior, regardless of whether or not it has been reported. The social networking services plans to limit the functionality of accounts who violate its terms of service. If the account continues to be “abusive”, Twitter “will consider taking further action”. Many users have already experienced the punishment for their bad behavior.
This past month, Twitter temporarily limited the reach of non-compliant accounts for an average of 12-hours. If a person tagged someone in a tweet who did not follow them, the tagged person did not see the message. Users were not only being banned for using specific naughty words, but for having an “abusive” account in general. Some claim that Twitter is putting a lid on free speech, while others have argued that whatever algorithm Twitter is using is taking certain words or phrases out of context.
Twitter has also expanded its filtering options. Users can now control who they see, such as those without a profile photo, unverified email addresses or phone numbers. It is expanding the function of the mute feature as well. This past November, users were able to “mute” certain keywords, phrases, or entire conversations. Now, Twitter users will also be able to mute from their own timeline and decide how long something will be muted.
To top everything off, Twitter claims its is working on being more transparent with the reporting process. Users will now be notified when Twitter has received their report and informed if further action was taken toward the reported account. Many users have claimed that they have not received a clear reason for being temporarily limited or banned on Twitter.
The social media network does admit, however, “We’re learning a lot as we continue our work to make Twitter safer – not just from the changes we ship but also from the mistakes we make, and of course, from feedback you share.”
