Jul 20, 2017

Twitter ramps up action against abusive accounts

Hamza Butt / Flickr cc

Six months into its mission to make Twitter a safer place, the social giant says they've seen great success.

  • They're now taking action on 10x the number of abusive accounts every day compared to the same time last year
  • Accounts that were suspended with limited functionality after reports of abuse now generate 25% fewer abuse reports, and approximately 65% of those accounts are suspended just once.
  • Twitter's quality filter has led to fewer unwanted interactions. Blocks after @mentions from people users don't follow are down 40%.

Why it matters: Last week, Pew reported that 6% more people (a total of 41% of U.S. online adults) say they have been harassed online than two years ago. The biggest reason? Political beliefs — which run rampant on Twitter. Twitter has made a range of product updates that have been informed by research from its newly-formed Trust and Safety Council to make its platform safer over the past six months.

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