Twitter is giving its users one more reason not to worry about their safety as it recently introduced a new feature that helps fight off online harassment and abuse.
The popular social networking service has developed a new support feature that will now allow users to report tweets made by other users about them even if they have been blocked by the offending party. The new feature was announced in a tweet by the Twitter Safety account sent out last Wednesday.
The tweet said, "We heard your feedback. You can now report Tweets that mention you, even if the author has blocked you." According to Digital Trends, however, the new feature will likely not "stir much excitement among users".
The problem with the new security feature is that the victims of online abuse can only be flagged or notified when their usernames are mentioned by the offending tweeter. Otherwise, the slandering and spreading of lies can still go on if the user mentions a person's real name.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who was notoriously left out by Donald Trump in the meeting, attended by some of the top tech leaders, admitted that online abuse is something that needs to be dealt with but is not an easy task. Dorsey expressed the frustration of starting a new process that would supposedly "restore faith in the company". The twitter bigwig also mentioned that the company s looking at a "more open and real-time dialogue" about online harassment and the ways they can be stopped.
Twitter is consistently involved in different controversies stemming from the inappropriate use of many of its members. The president of the United States himself is known for his Twitter tirades and has been accused a number of times for spreading lies using the online social networking platform. Late last year, a Twitter troll was accused of inducing a heart attack after the user sent 'Vanity Fair' and 'Newsweek' writer Kurt Eichenwald a "weaponized tweet" in the form of a GIF that could apparently cause seizures.
