Twitter Expands 'Quality Filter' Moderation Tool to All Users

Advertisement
By Caitlin Dewey, The Washington Post | Updated: 19 August 2016 10:36 IST
Twitter Expands 'Quality Filter' Moderation Tool to All Users

Since March 2015, Twitter has given verified users on some devices the option of using a "quality filter" to improve the tweets they see: It's essentially an automated moderation tool, which hides tweets that are abusive, threatening or spammy.

As I wrote at the time, the tool works really well - I've used it continuously since then. Now, after almost a year and a half of testing, non-verified users also have access.

Twitter announced the rollout in a statement published to its corporate blog Thursday. Here's how product manager Emil Leong explains how the filter works:

"When turned on, the filter can improve the quality of Tweets you see by using a variety of signals, such as account origin and behavior. Turning it on filters lower-quality content, like duplicate Tweets or content that appears to be automated, from your notifications and other parts of your Twitter experience. It does not filter content from people you follow or accounts you've recently interacted with - and depending on your preferences, you can turn it on or off in your notifications settings."

Advertisement

And here's what I found when I initially tested it:

"In pretty much every case, Twitter's quality filter blocked the outrageously obscene and threatening tweets, while still allowing the merely critical and disagreeable in. It blocked, for instance, various one-word expletives, comments on my appearance, all tweets (offensive and not) from my obvious troll accounts, spammy messages from some guy who tweets me the same thing all the time, and my co-worker's promise to "kill you" (me). It did not, however, block more benign criticisms of my work, or the words "rape" or "kill" used in a news setting.

Advertisement

"In other words, the quality filter - like the thing protecting your inbox from spam - is pretty sophisticated; it's not perfect, and it's not a cure-all, but it does more than just skim out tweets with swear words."

The rollout of the quality filter won't please everyone, of course - most notably the people it tends to silence. There have already been several high-profile controversies this year involving tweets that seemed to "disappear" from the site.

Advertisement

It also remains to be seen if this will resolve Twitter's harassment issues, which seem to grow more compromising by the day. On Aug. 11, BuzzFeed published a lengthy history of Twitter's battle against harassment and abuse, ultimately concluding that the social network had never internally prioritized ordinary users. Twitter later called the piece "unfair" but acknowledged that the site still had "a lot of work to do."

© 2016 The Washington Post

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: App, Social Media, Twitter
Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Nothing Announces 'Now or Nothing' Sale in India: Check All Offers
  2. Vivo T4 Ultra Launched in India With 50-Megapixel Periscope Camera
  3. Here's When the OnePlus Nord 5 and OnePlus Nord CE 5 Could Launch
  4. Starlink to Launch in India With Rs. 33,000 Setup Kit, Unlimited Plans
  5. Android 16 Update Is Coming Soon - Here's What to Expect
  6. Itel Zeno 5G With 50-Megapixel Rear Camera Launched in India: See Price
  7. Oppo K13x 5G Design, Colour Options Revealed; May Launch Later This Month
  8. A New Splatoon Spinoff Game Is Coming Exclusively to Nintendo Switch 2
  9. Know All About Apple's New Liquid Glass Design Language
  1. Vaanil Thedinen OTT Release: Know When and Where to Watch the Tamil Series Online
  2. Subham, Samantha Prabhu's Latest Horror Comedy to Premiere on Jio Hotstar
  3. BigBasket to Launch 10-Minute Food Delivery Across India by March 2026, Executive Says
  4. Oppo K13x 5G Design, Colour Options Revealed; Tipped to Launch Later This Month
  5. Threads Begins Testing the Ability to Send DMs Without Switching to Instagram
  6. Nintendo Announces Splatoon Raiders Spinoff Title for Switch 2 Alongside Splatoon 3 Update
  7. Snap Specs to Launch in 2026 as Competitor to Meta's AI Smart Glasses
  8. Judge Rejects Class Action for Google Privacy Lawsuit
  9. Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin Hovers Near $110,000 as Most Altcoins See Gains
  10. Google Expands Gemini in Google Docs to Android Devices, Available in Over 20 Languages
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.