Twitter introduces new filtering option to reduce abuses

Highlights:

1. With the new filtering option, Twitter will temporarily limit access of accounts if the user is found to be engaged in abusive activities 

2. It has also introduced new filtering options for notifying its users on accounts without profile photo, unverified e-mail addresses and phone numbers 

3. Users can also mute certain keywords, phrases or entire conversation from their home timeline with an option of muting them for specific amounts of time

In an attempt to reduce abuses, micro blogging website Twitter will launch new filtering option to prevent users from being notified when certain accounts tweet at them. 

The micro blogging website, will temporarily limit access of accounts if the user is found to be engaged in abusive activities. 

"We’re working to identify accounts as they’re engaging in abusive behaviour,  even if this behaviour hasn’t been reported to us. Then, we’re taking action by  limiting certain account functionality for a set amount of time, such as allowing only their  followers to see their tweets. For example, this change could come into effect if an account is repeatedly tweeting without solicitation at non-followers or engaging in patterns of abusive behaviour that is in violation  of the Twitter Rules," Twitter's vice president of Engineering Ed Ho said in a blog post on Wednesday.  

Our platform supports the freedom to share any viewpoint, but if an account continues to repeatedly violate the Twitter rules, we will consider taking further action, it further said.

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"We aim to only act on accounts when we’re confident, based on our algorithms, that their behaviour is abusive. Since these tools are new we will sometimes make mistakes, but know that we are actively working to improve and iterate on them everyday," Ho said.

Moreover, Twitter has introduced the new filtering options for notifying its users on accounts without profile photo, unverified e-mail addresses and phone numbers. 

"We’re also introducing new filtering options for your notifications to give you more control over what you see from certain types of accounts, like those without a profile photo, unverified email addresses or phone numbers. " cited Ho in its blog post. 

With the new filter feature in place, Twitter user can also mute certain keywords, phrases or entire conversation from their home timeline with an option of muting them for specific amounts of time.

"We’re also expanding the mute feature to build on the work we did in November which lets you remove certain keywords, phrases, or entire conversations from your notifications. Now, you’ll be able to mute from your home timeline and you can decide how long this content is muted – one day, one week, one month, or indefinitely," he said.

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