Twiter to start policing abuse more often in major shift

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/03/01/twitter-to-police-abuse-in-major-shift/98559482/

>SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter says it's going on the offensive, seeking out and clamping down on accounts that engage in abusive behavior, even if no one has reported the behavior.

>The social media company made the announcement Wednesday as part of its latest efforts to curb abuse on Twitter.

>It's a major shift for Twitter to take on some of the responsibility for policing abuse, rather than relying on victims to report it, as it has in the past.

>Accounts found to be violating Twitter's rules will be temporarily penalized by having their functions and reach limited, such as only allowing their followers to see their tweets.

>"We aim to only act on accounts when we’re confident, based on our algorithms, that their behavior is abusive. Since these tools are new we will sometimes make mistakes, but know that we are actively working to improve and iterate on them everyday," Ed Ho, vice president of engineering, said in a blog post.

>Another big and frequently requested change: Twitter users will be able to mute certain keywords, phrases or entire conversations from their timeline for as long as they want: a day, a week, a month or indefinitely. Already people can mute those things from their notifications.

>Twitter says it's also giving users more control over the notifications that they see from the types of accounts frequently created to harass fellow users. Those accounts tend not to have a profile picture or verified email addresses and phone numbers.

>Finally, Twitter users who file reports about abuse or harassment, whether of themselves or someone else, will be notified when Twitter begins looking into the report and if Twitter takes action on the report.
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