Twitter Widens Testing of Safety Mode Feature to More Users

Twitter is expanding the beta to more English-speaking countries to gain more insights and feedback.

By Nithya P Nair | Updated: 16 February 2022 15:12 IST

Twitter Widens Testing of Safety Mode Feature to More Users

Photo Credit: Twitter

Safety Mode temporarily auto-blocks accounts for seven days

Highlights

Twitter's Safety Mode was earlier available to a small feedback group
Safety Mode automatically detects and block abusive Twitter accounts
Safety Mode can be turned on under settings

Twitter on Wednesday announced the expansion of the Safety Mode feature to more users across English-speaking markets. The feature that aims to reduce unwelcome interactions on the platform allows users to temporarily block accounts for a week for using harmful language or sending uninvited replies. Twitter introduced the Safety Mode functionality in September last year with an aim to add more social privacy and reduce harassment on the microblogging platform. Previously it was available only to a small feedback group including female journalists and people from marginalised communities.

Twitter Safety Team on Wednesday tweeted about the widening of the experimental Safety Mode feature. The microblogging company said that it is expanding the beta to several English-speaking countries to get more feedback and insights.

Separately, a report by The Verge quoting Twitter spokesperson Tatiana Britt adds that as a result of the expansion, around 50 percent of people in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and the US will have access to the beta version of Safety Mode.

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In September last year, Twitter announced the testing of Safety Mode that allows users to temporarily block accounts for seven days for using harmful language, repetitive negative replies, and unsolicited mentions. It is being tested on Twitter for both mobile and Web users. It can be turned on under settings and once the Safety Mode is turned on, Twitter's systems will check the tweet content to assess the likelihood of a negative engagement and automatically blocks them from replying to your Tweets.

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The social media platform will take existing relationships of Tweet author and replier into account before taking any action, and the accounts frequently interacted will be excluded from this measure. The auto-blocked accounts will temporarily be unable to follow your account, see your Tweets, or send you Direct Messages (DMs). However, Twitter has not yet shared any details about the global rollout of the Safety Mode to more markets including India.

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Further reading: Twitter, Twitter Update, Twitter Safety Mode

Nithya P Nair

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Nithya P Nair is a journalist with more than five years of experience in digital journalism. She specialises in business and technology beats. A foodie at heart, Nithya loves exploring new places (read cuisines) and sneaking in Malayalam movie dialogues to spice up conversations. More