Twitter auto-blocking Safety Mode feature: What is it? Here's all you need to know

Social media platform Twitter recently announced expansion of beta in its Safety Mode feature. Twitter’s Safety Mode feature lets users temporarily autoblock accounts that send them harmful or abusive tweets. The feature was first introduced to a small set of users in September last year.

The 'Safety Mode' tool is now available in beta for more users across English-speaking markets, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, the news agency IANS reported.

"Remember when we began testing a new feature called Safety Mode? After months of feedback from beta users, we're excited to expand this to some of you in several new English-speaking markets to gain more feedback and insights," Twitter posted on Tuesday.

According to the micro-blogging platform, 'Safety Mode' 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," according to the company.

The technology takes existing relationships into account, so accounts "you follow or frequently interact with will not be autoblocked".

"The authors of Tweets found by our technology to be harmful or uninvited will be auto-blocked, meaning they'll temporarily be unable to follow your account, see your tweets, or send you Direct Messages," said Twitter.

Before each 'Safety Mode' period ends, you'll receive a notification recapping this information. The 'Safety Mode' autoblocks can be seen and undone at any time in your Settings. "We'll also regularly monitor the accuracy of our Safety Mode systems to make improvements to our detection capabilities," said Twitter.