Twitter’s Updated Features Allow You To Mute Words, Hashtags, And Entire Conversations

As part of their ongoing campaign to address harassment and hateful conduct on their platform, Twitter has updated their mute feature, allowing users to filter out certain words, hashtags, and entire conversations. As Fast Company reports, Twitter is also making it easier for users to report instances of online abuse.

While the mute feature previously only allowed users to mute certain accounts, the updated version makes it possible to mute notifications about specific words and phrases. Users will also be able to mute entire conversations that they don't want to see, even if the content doesn't explicitly violate Twitter's policies.

"We've definitely made a lot of changes over the years to try to combat abuse and harassment and all those sorts of issues," Del Harvey, Twitter's VP of trust and safety, told Fast Company. "But we've definitely not moved as fast as we've liked to, and we haven't done as much as we really want to. And part of that is because we have been trying to be very deliberate about making sure we're doing it right."

Twitter has also made it easier for users to report instances of abuse and harassment and added specific kinds of abuse - including race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation - to the reporting options. Users will be able to flag and report content for abuse, even if they were not involved.