TL17TWTRL
Latest
Twitter starts temporarily restricting abusive accounts
In a bid to stop trolling and online harassment, Twitter has now begun to reduce the reach of abusive accounts. The social media site's new vetting system temporarily restricts the tweets of abusive users, making them effectively invisible to those who don't already follow them. As well as stopping them being retweeted outside of their inner circle, this measure also works with mentions too. If the offending user tries to tweet at someone who isn't following them, for example, the intended receiver now won't get any notifications.
Twitter will soon filter out abusive replies to tweets
Twitter is delivering three new tools to help battle abusive users just one week after admitting it hasn't moved fast enough to curb rampant harassment taking place on the platform. In a blog post published this morning, VP of engineering Ed Ho announced three new features that'll be on Twitter soon. Perhaps the most immediately useful is a filter that hides "abusive or low-quality" tweets by default. It sounds similar to the "quality filter" that tries to remove trolls from your @ mentions.
Celebs ask Twitter to tackle a specific harassment case
Twitter has frequently been accused of waiting until harassment campaigns are big enough to make the news before it responds to them -- just ask Leslie Jones. And unfortunately, it looks like history might just repeat itself. Comedians Patton Oswalt, Tim Heidecker and others are calling on Twitter to take action following allegations that "alt-right" figure Mike Cernovich is conducting a sustained harassment campaign against Tim & Eric collaborator Vic Berger IV in retaliation for jokes and videos making fun of Cernovich.
'Vanity Fair' editor sues Twitter troll for giving him a seizure
Who knew trolls can use social media not just to dish out death threats but to cause someone actual physical harm? A Twitter user who went by the name @jew_goldstein very recently tweeted a GIF with rapidly flashing graphics at Vanity Fair and Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald, a known epileptic and Donald Trump critic. Shortly after that, Eichenwald's wife replied that the auto-playing animation gave Eichenwald a seizure and that she called the police to report the assault along with the info they have on the user.
'Alt-right' site plans a 'fake black person' Twitter campaign
The Daily Stormer, an alt-right website that regularly features racist, sexist and anti-semitic content, claims it has nearly 1,000 "fake black person" Twitter accounts that it plans to use in a "big," upcoming harassment campaign. This is a response to Twitter's recent ban of multiple accounts that distributed white supremacist content and ideas -- many of these banned users are prominent names in racist circles online. The bans are a result of Twitter's attempt to clean up its image with a new set of rules for reporting abuse. The company rolled out these safeguards on Tuesday.
Twitter bans multiple 'alt-right' accounts
In the wake of releasing more tools to combat abuse on its service, Twitter has banned the accounts of a number of "alt-right" users. That includes the head of the National Policy Institute (NPI), Richard Spencer. The think tank describes itself as "dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent in the United States and around the world." USA Today reports that the purge started with Spencer's verified status being revoked before removing his account (@RichardBSPencer), the NPI's (@npiamerica) and his publication The Radix Journal's (@radixjournal).
Trump's newly-emboldened troll army poses problems for Twitter
Yesterday, the US woke up to discover it had elected Donald Trump as leader of the free world. As we've pointed out, the decision threatens net neutrality and probably the planet, though we perversely got a Wu-Tang album from it. In addition to 48% of the country's voting electorate, those celebrating also included a loose army of trolls who rampaged across the internet harassing journalists and Clinton supporters for over a year. But far from being content with their US victory, many pro-Trump marauders have been emboldened and seem to be re-mobilizing to support far-right candidates in European elections. In short: The online abuse will almost certainly continue.
Twitter is letting all users filter out trolls from their notifications
Twitter has been failing to deal with abuse on its platform for a good long time now, but it seems like the company might finally be taking some substantive action. Twitter just posted a blog detailing two new features as part of its notification settings that should be rolling out to all users soon. The first is a so-called "quality filter" that attempts to reduce unpleasant or abusive @ mentions you might receive. Twitter says it filters out tweets based on a variety of factors including "account origin and behavior."
Twitter is setting up a safety council to tackle abuse
If there's one thing that's hampering Twitter's adoption in the wider world, it's that it's become a pretty toxic place for some people. The firm has decided to tackle this problem by announcing the formation of the Twitter Trust and Safety Council, a group tasked with reforming the service. The council's stated intention is to ensure the social network is a platform where "anyone, anywhere can express themselves safely and confidently." The site's head of global policy, Patricia Cartes, revealed that the body has recruited advocates from a wide network of advocacy groups. There are more than 40 listed contributors, many of which are legitimate anti-abuse organizations like GLAAD, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the Samaritans.
Twitter CEO admits 'we suck at dealing with trolls,' vows to fix it
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has admitted that "we suck with dealing at trolls on the platform and we've sucked at it for years," according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge. He added that the problem has caused "core user after core user" to flee the platform and took personal responsibility. Though Twitter has suffered from issues around abuse and trolling for years -- with the recent GamerGate abuse of Anita Sarkeesian being just one egregious example -- the apparent breaking point for Costolo was a recent Guardian story by feminist writer Lindy West. In it, she talked about her interview on This American Life with a troll who assumed the identity of her beloved, deceased father on Twitter.
