Twitter will overhaul its reporting process for harmful tweets
Twitter is testing a new process for reporting tweets in what it says is a major overhaul intended to make it easier to flag harmful behavior on its platform. With the change, the company is changing how it allows users to flag tweets and significantly expanding the criteria that can be included in reports.
In a blog post, Twitter says it’s revamping the process to take a “people first” approach, in which the reporting process begins by asking users “what happened” rather than expecting them to figure out which of the company’s complex policies may have been violated. That’s a significant change from the current process, which requires users to navigate through a series of menus and identify specific rules that were broken by the tweet in question.
Instead, the new reporting flow allows users to specify who was targeted and then describe how it happened. For example, it includes much more detailed ways to report hate speech, including hate speech targeting groups of people. Then, once users have described the incident, Twitter will suggest which of its rules may apply.
The company says this process is both simpler for users, and could help the company improve its policies and process further. “The more first-hand information they can gather about how people are experiencing certain content, the more precise Twitter can be when it comes to addressing it or ultimately removing it,” the company writes. “This rich pool of information, even if the Tweets in question don't technically violate any rules, still gives Twitter valuable input that they can use to improve people’s experience on the platform.”
Twitter is currently testing the new reporting flow with a “small group” of users in the US, and plans to expand it to more people in 2022.
Twitter is testing a new process for reporting tweets in what it says is a major overhaul intended to make it easier to flag harmful behavior on its platform. With the change, the company is changing how it allows users to flag tweets and significantly expanding the criteria that can…
