Twitter has reversed changes it made to how people block other users,
less than a day after they were introduced. The changes allowed blocked users to continue to see tweets and interact
with accounts that had blocked them, leading to an outcry. Twitter said it was reverting to old rules, under which users are not
able to follow an account once blocked.
Blocking is used by people to stop trolls and rude online commentators
from interacting with them. "We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from
many users - we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling
less safe," Michael Sippey, Twitter's vice-president of product,said in a blogpost.
"Any blocks you had previously instituted are still in
effect." Some
users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about
pre-blocking abuse” There have been calls for Twitter to do more to
counter cyberbullying following a number of high-profile cases of trolling,
where users of the social networking site were bombarded with threats and
abuse.
The firm recently introduced a "report Tweet" button to try to
combat the problem.
Mr Sippey said that Twitter's initial decision to change the way
blocking works was a further attempt to prevent abuse, by ensuring that users
did not know they had been blocked by someone.
He said blocked users - and sometimes even their friends - often
retaliated against the people who had blocked them, resulting in increased
bullying.
"Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as
they do about pre-blocking abuse," he explained.
He added that Twitter "will continue to explore features designed
to protect users from abuse and prevent retaliation".
Source: BBC
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