Twitter steps up crackdown on abuse

If you deliberately keep ‘Tweeting without solicitation’, especially at those not following you, Twitter may consider taking action against you.

This is just one of the steps Twitter is taking to clamp down on abuse on its platform. Twitter will take action on such accounts proactively, even if the account is not reported for abuse.

In a post, Ed Ho @mrdonut , VP, Engineering, said action will also be taken on those “engaging in patterns of abusive behavior that is in violation of the Twitter Rules”.

The action may be to limit “certain account functionality for a set amount of time, such as allowing only their followers to see their Tweets.”

Ed Ho said Twitter was also introducing new filtering options. For instance, users can filter out accounts without profile photos or accounts without unverified email addresses or phone numbers.

The ‘mute’ feature is also being expanded. Users will be able to mute from their home timeline and can also decide the duration of the mute – one day, one week, one month, or indefinitely.

The reporting process for abusive accounts is also being fine-tuned. – both when the harassment is reported and action is taken on the report. The action taken will be visible in your notifications tab on the app.

These measures follow Twitter’s actions last month on clamping down on abuse on its platform - stopping the creation of new abusive accounts, introducing safer search results and collapsing potentially abusive or low-quality Tweets.

COMMENT NOW