Twitter today announced that it is testing a new feature called Safety Mode, which is designed to cut down on harassment and unwelcome interactions on the social network.
Users who often get unwanted, spammy, or abusive replies to their tweets can turn on Safety Mode, which will autoblock accounts that use harmful language like insults, or send repetitive, uninvited replies and mentions.
Twitter says that Safety Mode assesses the likelihood of a negative engagement by considering the Tweet's content and the relationship between the Tweet author and replier. People blocked by Safety Mode will be unable to follow your account, see your Tweets, or send Direct Messages.
With Safety Mode, the autoblock stays on for a minimum of seven days, and autoblocked accounts are listed in the Safety Mode interface. Accounts that a person follows will not be autoblocked.
To develop Safety Mode, Twitter consulted trusted partners with expertise in online safety, mental health, and human rights.
We want you to enjoy healthy conversations, so this test is one way we're limiting overwhelming and unwelcome interactions that can interrupt those conversations. Our goal is to better protect the individual on the receiving end of Tweets by reducing the prevalence and visibility of harmful remarks.
Twitter is testing Safety Mode with a small group of people at the current time and will expand the testing group as feedback is received. During the beta testing period, Twitter says it will incorporate improvements and adjustments before releasing the feature for all users.
Great— so now everybody on Twitter will be grouped into their own silos and echo chambers even more than they already are. Nobody will change anybody’s opinion since you’re unlikely to hear dissenting voices and the divide between people will become even greater.
If you ask a question, or people express an opinion on something you said, on social media, it’s the same as going into the crappiest city you can find, finding the crappiest bar in that city, and finding the biggest moron in that bar, and then listening to what they say. Social Media is the worst thing to happen to humankind, ever.
Great— so now everybody on Twitter will be grouped into their own silos and echo chambers even more than they already are. Nobody will change anybody’s opinion since you’re unlikely to hear dissenting voices and the divided between people will become even greater.
Thanks, Jack!
There is a minority group who's mind cannot be changed. They call everyone else sheep. Without realizing they are sheep. Just in a different flock.
Reminds me of a quote I once heard from a radio personality. "Just because your words now travel around the world, that doesn't mean they are any more important than when they could only reach to the other end of the bar."
Wednesday December 6, 2023 5:06 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users by tracking push notifications that move through Google's and Apple's servers, a US senator warned on Wednesday (via Reuters). In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from the tech giants to track smartphones. The traffic flowing from apps that send push notifications...
Friday December 1, 2023 12:19 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 17.2 has been in beta testing for over a month, and it should be released to all users in a few more weeks. The software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones, including the dozen that we have highlighted below. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in mid-December. To learn about even more features coming in the update, check out our full list. Journal ...
Tuesday December 5, 2023 11:28 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware update for both the Lightning and USB-C versions of the AirPods Pro 2. The new firmware is version 6B34, up from the 6B32 firmware introduced in November. Apple does not provide details on what features might be included in the refreshed firmware beyond "bug fixes and other improvements," so it is unclear what's new in the update, but prior software releases ...
Wednesday December 6, 2023 2:03 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's Korean suppliers have begun developing smartphone under-display cameras (UDC), paving the way for the first iPhone with a true "all-screen" appearance. According to The Elec, LG Innotek has entered the preliminary development of the UDC, which sits under the display and does not result in a visible hole in the panel when the camera is not in use. A UDC differs from a typical front ...
Wednesday December 6, 2023 1:17 pm PST by Marko Zivkovic
Recently, MacRumors has received details on the battery currently being tested on the upcoming fourth-generation iPhone SE, and the information corroborates previous findings in relation to the device. The iPhone SE 4, known by its device identifier D59, is expected to use the exact same battery found in the base model iPhone 14. Partially assembled prototypes of the next iPhone SE have been ...
Wednesday December 6, 2023 9:53 am PST by Juli Clover
To boost falling iPad sales, Apple has a major refresh planned for the iPad lineup in early 2024, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple plans to debut new iPad Air and iPad Pro models, both of which will feature notable changes. The iPad Air will come in two sizes like the iPad Pro for the first time. The smaller model will continue to measure in at 10.9 inches, but the larger version...
Wednesday December 6, 2023 7:17 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple has shared the full release notes for iOS 17.2, which is in the final stage of beta testing and should be released to the public next week. iOS 17.2 includes a long list of new features and changes, including a Journal app, spatial video recording on iPhone 15 Pro models, several improvements to the Messages and Weather apps, a Favorite Songs playlist in Apple Music, and more. iOS...
Tuesday December 5, 2023 11:04 am PST by Juli Clover
The iOS 17.2 update that Apple is set to release to the public in the near future will bring support for the next-generation Qi2 wireless charging standard to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models. Qi2 was mentioned in the release notes for the RC version of the update that came out today. With the addition of support for the new standard, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models will work with Qi2...
Top Rated Comments
Thanks, Jack!
Deleted Twitter & IG the other day. I feel much more at peace.
Of course the best, most obvious choice is to just not use Twitter or any social media. They are doomsday devices—especially FaceBook.