Twitter Quietly Released Features That Cut Down on Twitter Trolls

Twitter is great for staying on top of current events or offering up a quick laugh at Obama/Biden memes, but unfortunately, it’s also been a breeding ground of internet harassment. While anyone is vulnerable to abuse on the platform, women are arguably more susceptible to body-shaming (see: Ashley Tisdale’s Twitter trolls), rape and death threats, stalking, and trolling.

Twitter users have been beseeching the platform for years to help control the abuse, and it seems like the social media company has finally heard the cry. Without much fanfare, Twitter just released a number of new features aimed at combatting these types of mistreatment.

Now, you can tap on the settings icon of their profile and go to Notifications > Advanced Filters to instantly upgrade their safety. Choose from muting notifications from people you don’t follow, those who have a Twitter egg as their profile pic, and users who haven’t confirmed their email and/or their phone number. This allows you to not only reduce spammy notifications from accounts you don’t really care about, but also helps to ensure that you won’t get flooded with Tweets from creeps or haters hiding behind a fake name.

Notification muting isn’t limited to accounts, either. There’s another useful feature if you’re looking to drown out noise: muted words. Simply head to Settings > Notifications > Muted Words to enter words, phrases, usernames, and hashtags you REALLY don’t want to get notifications for. While some can use it for silencing hashtags for shows you’re avoiding spoilers for, others can use it to help reduce bullying by muting unpleasant terms they’re not here for or users that give them the heebie jeebies/get their blood boiling.

What do you think of these features? Tell us @BritandCo!

(Photos via Twitter + Getty)