Twitter is expanding access to a feature called Safety Mode, designed to give users a set of tools to defend against the toxicity and abuse that is still too often an issue on its platform. First presented to a small group of testers last September, SafetyMode It will be released first in beta for more users in English-speaking markets, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.
The company says that expanded access will allow it to gather more information about how well Safety Mode works and learn what kinds of improvements still need to be made. Along with the launch, Safety Mode will also prompt users when they need to enable it, it says. Twitter.
As a public social platform, Twitter faces an ongoing struggle with the health of conversations. Over the years, it implemented a number of tweaks and updates in an attempt to address this issue, including features that would automatically hide nasty and insulting replies behind an additional click; allow users to limit who can reply to their tweets; allow users to hide from search; and warn users about conversations starting to go off the rails, among other things.
However security mode it's more of a defensive tool than one designed to proactively push conversations in the right direction.
It works by automatically blocking accounts for seven days that reply to the original author with harmful language or send repetitive uninvited responses, such as insults and hateful comments or mentions. During the time that Security Mode is enabled, those blocked accounts will not be able to follow the account of Twitter from the original original writer, view their tweets and replies, or send them Direct Messages.
Algorithms Twitter They determine which accounts to temporarily block by evaluating the language used in responses and by examining the relationship between the author of the tweet and the responders. If the poster follows the replyer or interacts with the replyer frequently, for example, the account will not be locked.
The idea with Safety Mode is to give users in an attack a way to quickly install a defensive system without having to manually block each account that is harassing them, something almost impossible when a tweet goes viral and exposes the user to high levels of abuse. This situation is what happens not only to celebrities and public figures whose “cancellations” accounts make headlines, but also women journalists, members of marginalized communities and even ordinary people.
It is also not a problem exclusive to Twitter: Instagram launched a similar set of anti-abuse features last year, after a number of English footballers were brutally harassed by angry fans after the team's loss in the Euro 2020 final.
With the comments of the first evaluators, Twitter found that people want more help identifying when an attack may be underway. As a result, the company says the feature will now also prompt users to enable it when the system detects potentially harmful or uninvited responses. These prompts may appear on the user's startup timeline or as a device notification if the user is not currently logged in. Twitter. This should save the user from having to search through the configuration of Twitter to locate the function.
Security Mode was tested by 750 users during the first tests. It will now roll out the beta to around 50% of users (randomly selected) in supported markets. It is exploring how these users can give their opinion on Twitter directly in the app.
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