What's 'Safety Mode' & how does it work? Inside Twitter's new feature aimed to combat online harassment

Twitter on Wednesday launched a new feature called 'Safety Mode' as a move to combat harassment and abuse online. The new feature will allow users to block accounts temporarily for seven days for using harmful language or sending uninvited replies, the micro-blogging platform said.

Once the 'Safety Mode' is turned on, the social media platform will scan the tweet to assess the likelihood of the negative engagement and the relationship between the user who original posted the tweet and replier. Twitter is launching 'Safety Mode' in beta with "small feedback group" of user accounts on Android, iOS and web platform. For now only those who have English-language setting enabled can enjoy the feature. More group of testers will get the feature in the coming months.

“When the feature is turned on in your Settings, our systems will assess the likelihood of a negative engagement by considering both the Tweet’s content and the relationship between the Tweet author and replier,” Jarrod Doherty, Twitter senior product manager, said in a blog post. Accounts frequently interacted with will not be auto-blocked, the company said, as it takes existing relationships into account.



The micro-blogging site had teased 'Safety Mode' in February during its Analyst Day event. Twitter has been upping its game and coming up with interesting updates in order to reduce hateful messages and abuse on its platform. Recent features have allowed users to now hide replies, limit who replies on their tweets among others. "We want people on Twitter to enjoy healthy conversations, so we're limiting overwhelming and unwelcome interactions that can interrupt those conversations," the company said.

On Wednesday, Twitter also showed-off 'Super Follow' feature, allowing creators to monetise monthly by sharing subscriber-only content with their followers on the micro-blogging platform.