Twitter is trialling new features that should help to crack down on online abuse. The platform has come under scrutiny in recent months over how it deals with abusive comments.

Following England’s defeat at the hands of Italy in Euro 2020, black players received torrents of racial abuse. Twitter banned 56 abusive accounts in the aftermath. However, evidence emerged that 30 out of those 56 were still posting on the platform.

The new Safety Mode automatically blocks users who send unwarranted and abusive messages. Users need to activate Safety Mode. Once enabled, Twitter automatically blocks any account that uses harmful or abusive language for seven days. Safety Mode also bans users that send uninvited replies or mentions.

Rather than relying on users to block abusive accounts, Twitter’s system will block the accounts. The Safety Mode algorithm searches for abusive Tweets. However, the account can only be added to the blocked list if the user has not already interacted with them. There will also be human moderation.

The feature is currently being trialled amongst a small group of users. Twitter has a particular focus on female journalists and members of marginalised communities.

The head of Twitter UK policy, Katy Minshall, said that the feature should promote healthy conversation:

‘We’re introducing Safety Mode; a feature that allows you to automatically reduce disruptive interactions on Twitter, which in turn improves the health of the public conversation.’

Safety Mode is not the only new feature that Twitter is testing. On September 7, Twitter announced that it is making it easier for users to curate their followers with Soft Block. Users will be able to remove followers without blocking them.

At present, users can recreate a soft block themselves by blocking an account before unblocking them. By doing so, the account is removed from the user’s follower list.

The aim of Twitter is to provide a place for healthy conversation. However, the presence of trolls and abuse often hides this. When the new features are formally rolled out, users will have greater control over who follows them and the access they grant to others. The imminent arrival of Safety Mode and Soft Block reinforces Twitter’s commitment to improving the overall safety of the platform.

Other updates

In February 2021, Twitter announced that it would introduce a premium feature. Named Super Follows, the feature will allow users to generate revenue by charging a monthly fee in return for exclusive content. The subscriptions cost $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99.

Twitter is targeting the feature at people looking to direct conversation, These includes activists, journalists, writers, musicians and comedians. According to Twitter, paying the monthly fee will allow users to access the “unfiltered thoughts, early previews and subscriber-only conversations.”

To be eligible for Super Follows, users must have over 10,000 followers and have tweeted at least 25 times in the past month. Having such a following gives the account holder the chance to turn their followers into paying subscribers.

Another feature coming to Twitter is Communities. The feature bears similarities to a group on Facebook or a subreddit on Reddit. In a Community, users can directly tweet at others rather than just the people that they follow. The groups will have specific themes, bringing people together over shared interests.

On Communities, members will act as the moderators. They will set the rules of the Community. Moderators also control who is admitted and removed from the Community. In the beginning, Twitter will approve moderators.

As Communities is currently in the trial phase, they are operating on an invite-only basis. Twitter recognises that this policy will initially make it harder to join Communities. However, Twitter is working on ways to increase the accessibility of Communities.

About the Author: James Hingley

James Hingley is a contributing Features Writer with extensive expertise in International Relations, Politics and Culture.