Twitter just came out with a new feature to help stop hate speech on the social media platform. The “muted words” feature allows users to mute certain words, phrases, hashtags, emojis, or usernames from their feed. Users can also block entire conversations if they choose. This means that users would not get a notification when they are mentioned in a hateful tweet.
The “muted words” feature was released in response to the increase of reports on social media. There has also been an increased concern about abuse and harassment on Twitter, which has had an effect on growth among users and advertisers. Twitter also improved its abuse reporting system in effort to end that hate speech. Twitter is trying to prevent abusive comments from being posted in the first place. The feature allows users to report hateful conduct whether they are targeted or a bystander.
Previous mute features on twitter only allowed for users to mute certain accounts they didn’t want to hear from. Now users can customize what they want to be mentioned in or view on their newsfeed.
Twitter introduced the “muted words” feature as other leading online companies responded to this year’s presidential election. Twitter gained more users during the election and they are hoping on keeping them.
The “muted words” feature will have more uses than just hate speech. Users can mute the names of TV shows or games that they intend to watch later in the day.
Twitter has 317 million users, which make it extremely difficult to extinguish hate speech on the platform all-together. Twitter has always struggled with abusive content since it is seen as the ultimate place for free speech. The “muted words” feature is a good start to ending the hate speech. Although, it is unclear is the new features will change the broad and open dynamics of Twitter.
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