MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation, whether it’s around the new must-watch series or the world’s biggest international sporting events. From #Butter to #FriendsReunion, from #GE2020 to #MilkTeaAlliance; Twitter is where people gather to talk about anything and everything.
There are countless communities on Twitter where you can meet like-minded people to share in your love for everything from air fryer recipes to local art. While participating in these conversations, it is important that you feel safe and in control.
With Stop Cyberbullying Day happening on 17 June, here’s a refresher on some of the many tools available to people on Twitter to enable a better experience.
Controlling your DMs and Replies
Sometimes, you only want to have a conversation about something you’re passionate about with people you know on Twitter. Choose who can reply to your Tweet. When you start a new Tweet, you can choose who will be able to reply to it. You’ll see a default setting of ‘Everyone can reply’ next to a globe icon in the compose Tweet box. Clicking or tapping this prior to posting your Tweet allows you to choose who can reply to you – everyone, people you follow, or only people you mention.
This new conversation experience is here for everyone! When composing a Tweet, tap “🌎 Everyone can reply” to change who can reply.
We’re just getting started with features to help you feel safer Tweeting and have more meaningful conversations. Details: https://t.co/gWspbKs5SG pic.twitter.com/K0VLQ09ikP
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) August 11, 2020
To minimize the risk of unsolicited messages, spam, or being added into groups with people you do not know, you can opt to receive direct messages only from people you know. You can disable the ‘Allow Messages requests from everyone’ function in your Privacy and Safety settings.
✉️ Check your messages
Filter out unwanted DMs and limit messages from people you don’t follow –– all from clicking “Direct Messages”. pic.twitter.com/SgPEoAWbN0
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 14, 2020
Blocking and Reporting
Feeling harassed by certain accounts on Twitter? Block people whom you don’t want seeing your Tweets or activity on Twitter. Now they will not be able to contact or follow you, or see your Tweets. Once you have blocked someone, you will no longer be notified when they mention or Retweet you, or add you to a list. You won’t be able to see any of their interactions on Twitter, effectively allowing you to ignore them.
Choose who views your Tweets. Block an account so they can’t see your Tweets or DM you. pic.twitter.com/TnMxHKil3b
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 11, 2020
Twitter aims to provide an environment where people feel safe expressing themselves, by making it easy to report abusive behaviour. Reporting Tweets to Twitter starts an investigation into Tweets and/or accounts.
We use technology to detect Tweets that may break our rules. More than 1 in 2 Tweets we take action on for abuse are now proactively surfaced using technology, rather than relying on reports to Twitter.
But if you see something before we do, please report it. pic.twitter.com/bGuCeGS5tb
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) October 9, 2020
Muting
If certain keywords or phrases are a trigger for you, you can mute specific words, hashtags, usernames, and emojis from your timeline. That way, you can avoid content in Tweets that you don’t want to see.
To support #SaferInternetDay, here are a few ways to control your own experience on Twitter.
For words or topics you don’t want to see, go to Settings and mute them. pic.twitter.com/xFuze36JA7
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 11, 2020
Your safety on Twitter is our priority
We want your Twitter experience to be enjoyable, which is why we are committed to constantly improving our rules, processes, technology, and tools to ensure everyone can participate in the public conversation freely and safely. Head over to safety.twitter.com for more information.
