Twitter has expanded its mode aimed at protecting user “safety.”
The platform introduced “Safety Mode” in September of last year and said its aim was to “limit unwelcome interactions on Twitter.”
The mode was initially only available to a select group of beta testers, but the platform announced Tuesday that the mode would be offered to more users in “English-speaking markets.”
“Remember when we began testing a new feature called Safety Mode?” the platform tweeted. “After months of feedback from beta users, we’re excited to expand this to some of you in several new English-speaking markets to gain more feedback and insights.”
One feature the platform tested as part of the mode was named “downvoting” and allowed users to “downvote” posts they disagreed with. The platform noted, however, that while downvotes were not public, they were used to highlight “content people want to see.”
“Downvotes aren’t public, but they'll help inform us of the content people want to see,” Twitter said.
Earlier this month, Twitter told MRC Free Speech America that the “experiment” is in its learning stage and does “not impact how replies are ordered.”
“We are still in the learning stage of this experiment and are looking to gain a better understanding of how Reply Downvoting could help us better surface the most relevant content for people on Twitter in the future. At this stage in the experiment down votes are private and do not impact how replies are ordered,” Twitter said.
Downvotes aren’t the only feature Twitter implemented as part of its “Safety Mode.”
In 2021, Twitter announced “Birdwatch” and described it as “a pilot in the US of a new community-driven approach to help address misleading information on Twitter” in a blog post.
“Birdwatch allows people to identify information in Tweets they believe is misleading and write notes that provide informative context. We believe this approach has the potential to respond quickly when misleading information spreads, adding context that people trust and find valuable,” Twitter said. “Eventually we aim to make notes visible directly on Tweets for the global Twitter audience, when there is consensus from a broad and diverse set of contributors.”
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