TORONTO – Twitter has rolled out a new tool that allows users to share their block lists in an effort to crack down on trolls harassing particular communities on the social networking site.
The feature allows users to export and share their block lists – consisting of accounts they have blocked – with other users who might be experiencing similar abuse.
Say, for example, you actively tweeted about a particular issue like gender equality in the tech world and were being harassed by other users. You could block those individuals and then share that block list with users that tweet about the same issues to help prevent harassment.
“Mute and block are tools to help you control your Twitter experience. While many users find them useful, we also recognize that some users — those who experience high volumes of unwanted interactions on Twitter — need more sophisticated tools,” read a blog post announcing the feature.
Twitter has been taking steps to crack down on abuse over the last few months, after admitting it had a problem with trolls.
In March, Twitter announced it would begin tracking so-called abusive users by tracking their email addresses and phone numbers if they were slapped with temporary bans for violating its terms of service.
A month later the social network made changes to its violent threats policy, broadening it to include “threats of violence against others or promoting violence against others.” It also allowed support staff to lock abusive accounts for specific periods of time based their offences.
“This option gives us leverage in a variety of contexts, particularly where multiple users begin harassing a particular person or group of people,” explained a blog post.
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