Twitter announces measures to tackle ‘sharp rise’ in abuse
The social media giant is looking to tackle the rise in bullying and harassment on the web
Twitter has announced a series of extra measures to tackle a “sharp rise” in the amount of online abuse, bullying and harassment.
The social media giant, which operates an open platform, admitted that it had struggled to cope with, and respond to, conduct which it said “threatens human dignity,” as it announced a set of additional controls and reporting lines.
“Because Twitter happens in public and in real-time, we’ve had some challenges keeping up with and curbing abusive conduct,” it said this week, adding: “We took a step back to reset and take a new approach.”
The San Francisco-based news and social networking service said it was now expanding its “mute” feature, which lets users mute accounts they do not wish to see Tweets from.
“We’re expanding mute to where people need it the most: in notifications,” the group said. “We’re enabling you to mute keywords, phrases, and even entire conversations you don’t want to see notifications about, rolling out to everyone in the coming days.”
The company also said it was giving users “a more direct way” to report hateful comments based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease. It was not immediately clear whether ‘Zionism’ or ‘Zionists’ would be included.
It added: “We have retrained all of our support teams on our policies, including special sessions on cultural and historical contextualisation of hateful conduct, and implemented an ongoing refresher program. We have also improved our internal tools and systems in order to deal more effectively with this conduct when it’s reported to us. Our goal is a faster and more transparent process.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
