Enable better Twitter experience with top 5 safety tips

Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation, whether it’s around the new must-watch series or the world’s biggest international sporting events. From #Butter to #FriendsReunion, from #GE2020 to #MilkTeaAlliance; Twitter is where people gather to talk about anything and everything. 

There are countless communities on Twitter where you can meet like-minded people to share in your love for everything from air fryer recipes to local art. While participating in these conversations, it is important that you feel safe and in control. 

With Stop Cyberbullying Day happening on 17 June, here’s a refresher on some of the many tools available to people on Twitter to enable a better experience.

Controlling your DMs and Replies

Sometimes, you only want to have a conversation about something you’re passionate about with people you know on Twitter. Choose who can reply to your Tweet. When you start a new Tweet, you can choose who will be able to reply to it. You’ll see a default setting of ‘Everyone can reply’ next to a globe icon in the compose Tweet box. Clicking or tapping this prior to posting your Tweet allows you to choose who can reply to you – everyone, people you follow, or only people you mention.

 Embedded Tweet: https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1293240041372753920 

To minimize the risk of unsolicited messages, spam, or being added into groups with people you do not know, you can opt to receive direct messages only from people you know. You can disable the ‘Allow Messages requests from everyone’ function in your Privacy and Safety settings. 

Embedded Tweet: https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1316456923990953984 

Blocking and Reporting
Feeling harassed by certain accounts on Twitter? Block people whom you don’t want seeing your Tweets or activity on Twitter. Now they will not be able to contact or follow you, or see your Tweets. Once you have blocked someone, you will no longer be notified when they mention or Retweet you, or add you to a list. You won’t be able to see any of their interactions on Twitter, effectively allowing you to ignore them. 

Embedded Tweet: https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1227177932713533442 

Twitter aims to provide an environment where people feel safe expressing themselves, by making it easy to report abusive behaviour. Reporting Tweets to Twitter starts an investigation into Tweets and/or accounts.

Embedded Tweet: https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1314654366058512384  

Muting

If certain keywords or phrases are a trigger for you, you can mute specific words, hashtags, usernames and emojis from your timeline. That way, you can avoid content in Tweets that you don’t want to see.

Embedded Tweet: https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1227177930658373635 

Your safety on Twitter is our priority 

We want your Twitter experience to be enjoyable, which is why we are committed to constantly improving our rules, processes, technology, and tools to ensure everyone can participate in the public conversation freely and safely. Head over to safety.twitter.com for more information.