MANILA – Building on the work that began in November, Twitter is continuing to work on ways to give people more control over what they see on Twitter. Last week, the company introduced an improvement to reporting abusive Tweets that gives people experiencing targeted harassment more ways to report it. Today, Twitter is announcing three changes: stopping the creation of new abusive accounts, bringing forward safer search results, and collapsing potentially abusive or low-quality Tweets. All three features are rolling out globally, but some algorithms are language specific and will roll out first in English and then in all languages available on Twitter. Further details can also be read at the Twitter blog.
Ed Ho, VP of Engineering, Twitter stated, “Making Twitter a safer place is our primary focus. We stand for freedom of expression and people being able to see all sides of any topic. That’s put in jeopardy when abuse and harassment stifle and silence those voices. We won’t tolerate it and we’re launching new efforts to stop it.”
We're working hard to make Twitter safer.
SponsorHere's an update on some changes we're introducing today:https://t.co/TFYe3IoQwM
— Twitter Philippines (@TwitterPH) February 7, 2017
Stopping the creation of new abusive accounts
Twitter is taking steps to identify people who have been permanently suspended and stop them from creating new accounts. This focuses more effectively on some of the most prevalent and damaging forms of behavior, particularly accounts that are created only to abuse and harass others.
Introducing safer search results
Twitter is also working on ‘safe search’ which removes Tweets that contain potentially sensitive content and Tweets from blocked and muted accounts from search results. While this type of content will be discoverable if people want to find it, it won’t clutter search results any longer. Learn more in Twitter help center.
Collapsing potentially abusive or low quality Tweets
Our team has also been working on identifying and collapsing potentially abusive and low quality replies so the most relevant conversations are brought forward. These Tweet replies will still be accessible to those who seek them out. People can expect to see this change rolling out in the coming weeks.
