Twitter has announced the launch of Safety Mode, a new option that uses algorithms to prevent us from seeing messages with insults or threats or, as Twitter calls them, “unwelcome messages.”
It is yet another option that the company has developed in response to the flagrant problem of harassment suffered by its social network, where the ease of creating an account and sending messages to strangers is one of its strengths. For years, users have asked the company to massively expel these ‘trolls’ and stalkers, and even many personalities decided to leave the social network for it; But Twitter has resisted, instead offering tools for users to block those who attack them, a long and fruitless process.
Now, Safety Mode aims to facilitate that process. Once activated in the privacy and security options of the iOS, Android and Twitter.com app, algorithms will automatically detect harassers in our mentions, and will block them for a period of seven days . During that period, they will not be able to follow our account, send us tweets or direct messages, but they will be able to follow other accounts and use Twitter as usual.
Specifically, the algorithm will look at the use of insults, hateful messages and the repetition of mentions to decide whether a user should be blocked; When the blocking period ends, we will receive a notification with the message that caused the blocking and the details.
Of course, one wonders why Twitter does not use this technology to expel harassing users, who in theory are violating its terms of use; And while the company doesn’t explain it directly, it hints that its technology can be buggy , and will allow users to undo crashes that were made by mistake.
At the moment, this functionality is available only in accounts configured in English , since that is the only language that the algorithms recognize for now.
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At the same time, Twitter has announced the launch of a feature introduced earlier this year, the ‘Super Follows’ . Basically, it consists of a subscription service that allows us to send monthly payments to Twitter users, in exchange for benefits such as exclusive content.
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It is possible to pay between $ 2.99 and $ 9.99 per month , a figure decided by each creator depending on the content they want to offer. Therefore, it is a service similar to Patreon or OnlyFans , which allows you to limit access to content only to subscribers who make the payment. At the moment, Super Follows are only available to a small number of users in the United States.
