Twitter are Aiming to Fight Trolls with Improved Block Feature

The Next Web

Twitter does have a big problem with trolls. We all run into them and they've been known to say some pretty sick things to people. A recent example was the anti-Semites who were trolling Jewish users on Twitter and sending them some truly disgusting things. Now users can block those trolls without worrying about somehow accidentally stumbling across them.

Before now, if you blocked someone on Twitter they could still see your tweets if someone retweeted or replied to it and you could still see them if they replied to or retweeted something. It basically just made it harder for them to contact you, which is sort of great, but in the end, it wasn't good enough. Users have been wanting a better blocking system for a long time and now they're finally getting one. Twitter claim that this isn't in response to anything, they just decided to finally put the system into place.

How the new block feature works is that the user you block pretty much disappears off of the site when you're logged in. You cannot see any of their tweets and they cannot contact you. They can't even see your tweets if someone else has replied to or retweeted it because it links back to you. This is a serious improvement as it can protect users from hate. Of course, trolls might just create new accounts for the sake of hating on that person, but then you can block them and you're safe again. Twitter are never going to be able to stop hate completely because it's just something that comes with the internet, especially when you can hide behind anonymity.

This might be a good step taken too late. A lot of people have already left Twitter due to trolls and even with this many users will still follow suit. It's good to know that Twitter wants to fix things and help their users, but it should have been done sooner. Twitter brought in the Trust and Safety Council a while ago and this should have been part of that. Better late than never though and the feature should be available now.

Rosina Brooker

Rosina is a Songbird writer with a degree in Creative Writing. She's trying to focus on her novel on the side but is glad to be playing around with apps and writing about them in the mean time! Follow her @Songbird_Rosina

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