Twitter safety mode is the company’s latest feature that is currently being tested by the social media platform. This feature will ably detect when someone is being harassed and automatically block the abuser on the person’s behalf. Efforts by the company to tackle the use of hateful language and online harassment are now more evident than ever.
Also read: Twitter’s ticketed spaces offer a fortune to hosts.
Due to the nature of online spaces, there is little control that can be imposed over the freedom of people while there. This has in one way given some people leeway to make other users’ experiences on different social media platforms dreadful as they cyberbully and harass them.
Since it’s not easy to follow up on the people behind these hateful remarks or derogatory behaviour online, the ability of social media platforms to exert control is minimal. All they can do is suspend the person’s account in most situations.
How Twitter safety mode works
According to a blog post from the social media company,
“Safety Mode is a feature that temporarily blocks accounts for seven days for using potentially harmful language — such as insults or hateful remarks — or sending repetitive and uninvited replies or mentions. When the feature is turned on in your Settings, our systems will assess the likelihood of a negative engagement by considering both the Tweet’s content and the relationship between the Tweet author and replier. Our technology takes existing relationships into account, so accounts you follow or frequently interact with will not be auto blocked.”
Read also: Digital safetea: A fun new way to learn about online safety
The safety mode feature will work by blocking anyone Twitter automatically suspects of using hateful language and consistently sending unnecessary remarks or replies. The social networking company said it will use automated technology to look at the content of a tweet and assess “the relationship between the Tweet author and replier” to determine if a block is warranted. Twitter previously introduced the feature during an Analyst Day presentation in February.
Because of the possibility of accidentally blocking someone that did not deserve to be blocked, Twitter will allow users to find information about the flagged tweets and view the details of temporarily blocked accounts. This will allow for users to see and undo any Safety Mode autoblocks in Settings.
Better yet, details of temporarily blocked accounts can be viewed at any time. Twitter users will receive a notification allowing them to recap the information at the end of every safety mode period.
Just like different social media platforms, Twitter has struggled with the issue of managing abuse on its platform. There have been recent efforts however to reduce abuse on the platform. They include hiding replies, letting people limit who can reply to their posts, and showing a warning before you tweet a potentially harmful reply.
Read more: Twitter spaces: The lockdown’s latest fresh wave
Read more: Fake Twitter accounts suspended after accidental verification