Twitter’s Safety Mode that automatically blocks accounts which harass you has expanded to more beta testers in the US, UK, Canada and more.
- Twitter has expanded testing of a new Safety Mode feature in the mobile app
- Safety Mode launched into beta for more users in select English-speaking countries
- The feature uses AI to determine which accounts to temporarily block
More people can now test-drive Twitter’s Safety Mode
Since its launch in limited beta back in September 2021, Safety Mode was initilaly restricted to a small feedback group but that’s starting to change now. CNET reports that Safety Mode is expanding to about half of users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.
Safety Mode is an auto-blocking feature that will temporarily block any accounts for seven days for using potentially harmful language. The feature is available in Twitter’s mobile app for iOS and Android, as well as on Twitter.com. Only accounts that have English-language settings enabled are currently supported. If this feature is already available to you, you must manually turn on Safety Mode in the Privacy section of your Twitter settings. Read: How to use Twitter search like a pro
When Safety Mode is turned on, Twitter’s machine learning algorithm will employ various signals to determine which accounts deserve blocking because they have been harassing you, using foul language, posting hateful remarks to your tweets and so on.
Twitter’s blog post explains how Safety Mode works:
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. Our technology takes existing relationships into account, so accounts you follow or frequently interact with will not be autoblocked.
Aside from insults and hateful remarks, the system will also block accounts that send you repetitive and uninvited replies or mentions. Accounts blocked by Safety Mode are temporarily unable to follow your account, see your tweets or send you direct messages. Twitter explains that users can see details about temporarily blocked accounts and tweets at any time. Read: How to create Twitter lists on iPhone, iPad, Mac and the web
Before each Safety Mode period ends, you’ll receive a notification recapping this information. We won’t always get this right and may make mistakes, so Safety Mode autoblocks can be seen and undone at any time in your Settings. We’ll also regularly monitor the accuracy of our Safety Mode systems to make improvements to our detection capabilities.
Twitter will use feedback to assess how Safety Mode works, helping improve the tool before it’s made available to everyone. To that end, however, the company wouldn’t say when it might be bringing Safety Mode to everyone on Twitter.