Twitter Safety Work Results Update

Press release

21 July 2017, PHILIPPINES - Twitter’s commitment to move faster to make the platform safer started in January. First, the company conducted research to understand the issues at a deeper level, then we made a range of product updates. Then they convened the Trust and Safety Council to gather feedback and help guide them as we they forward.

While there is still much work to be done, people are experiencing significantly less abuse on Twitter today than they were six months ago. What follows is some new data on the progress that they’ve made, what they’ve learned, and their plans to continue improving.

Increasing Action on Abusive Accounts

Twitter is now taking action on 10x the number of abusive accounts every day compared to the same time last year. The platform also now limits account functionality or place suspensions on thousands more abusive accounts each day. There are repeat offenders who create new accounts after being suspended for violations. The new systems, in the last four months alone, have removed twice the number of these types of accounts. Beyond the technology, Twitter teams are continuing to review content daily and improving how we enforce our policies.

Driving Change in Behavior

Communication about problematic Tweets, especially to the people who send them, is key. Accounts that demonstrate abusive behavior are now limited for a time, and told why. Accounts that are put into this period of limited functionality generate 25% fewer abuse reports, and approximately 65% of these accounts are in this state just once.

Providing Personalized Controls

Twitter has introduced new ways to customize people’s experience, including notification filters and muting keywords. The Quality Filter feature has led to fewer unwanted interactions: blocks after @mentions from people that they don’t follow is down 40%. These numbers will vary, but the approach is having a positive impact. Twitter has consistent harassment definitions and policies that apply to everyone. However, people define abuse differently, so using these new tools, every person has control of what they see and experience on Twitter.

What Happens Next

More improvement, transparency, and speed. Online safety is an issue best solved in partnership with others, so Twitter will continue to collaborate with the Trust & Safety Council, industry experts, and academics to solicit ongoing feedback. We are committed to making Twitter a safe place for free expression.

Twitter Takes User Safety to New Levels

Press release

Manila, 2 March 2017 - Twitter today is announcing new updates on Safety. During the past few weeks alone, there has been a number of changes on this front; including updating how users can report abusive Tweets, stopping the creation of new abusive accounts, implementing safer search results, collapsing abusive or low-quality Tweets, and reducing notifications from conversations started by people who has been blocked or muted.

Ed Ho, VP of Engineering, Twitter stated that, “We’ve seen an impact from these updates and we appreciate and value all of your feedback along the way. This week we’re introducing additional updates that leverage our technology to reduce abusive content, give you more tools to control your experience, and communicate more clearly about actions we take.”

1.       Leveraging Twitter’s technology to reduce abusive content

Twitter is working to identify accounts as they’re engaging in abusive behavior, even if this behavior hasn’t been reported. Then, the company is 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 behavior that is in violation of the Twitter Rules. The platform supports freedom to share any viewpoint, but if an account continues to repeatedly violate the Twitter Rules, they will consider taking further action.

Ed Ho added, “We aim to only act on accounts when we’re confident, based on our algorithms, that their behavior 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.”

2.                   Giving users more control with additional tools

Twitter is introducing new filtering options for users notifications to give them more control over what they see from certain types of accounts, like those without a profile photo, unverified email addresses or phone numbers. Many people requested more filter options for their notifications, and we’re excited to bring these to everyone on Twitter.

The platform is also expanding mute feature to build on the work they did in November which let users remove certain keywords, phrases, or entire conversations from your notifications. Now, people will be able to mute from their home timeline and they can decide how long this content is muted – one day, one week, one month, or indefinitely. This was another big request from users and will be rolled out soon.

3.                   Communicating more clearly about the actions we take

Twitter is continuing to improve the transparency and openness of the reporting process. You’ll start to hear more from us about accounts or Tweets that you’ve reported to our support teams – both when you report harassment directed at you or another account. Users will be notified when Twitter received their reports and informed if there are further action taken. This will all be visible in users’ notifications tab on the app.

“We’re learning a lot as we continue our work to make Twitter safer – not just from the changes we ship but also from themistakes we make, and of course, from feedback shared by users. We appreciate your patience and support, especially as we roll out these changes globally and in every language represented on the platform in the coming days and weeks. More to come soon and in the meantime, watch for additional updates from @TwitterSafety,” said Ed Ho.