Twitter has long been working on tools to reduce toxicity in its users' posts. Some work better than others, of course. But the newest thing in this area is the update of the warnings for offensive responses, which will no longer be displayed when the service detects that the insults are directed at a friend .
In mid-2020, Twitter began testing suggestions for people to inspect responses that contain potentially offensive or harmful terms . The same notice included options to edit the tweet, delete it, or post it anyway. This function disappeared from the social network for a time, and was implemented again in February of this year.
Now, the service updated the operation of this tool so that it does not intrude during a conversation between friends . This means that you can continue insulting yourself with your relatives, without receiving warnings of any kind.
“In early tests, people sometimes received unnecessary prompts because the algorithms driving them had difficulty capturing nuance in many conversations and often did not differentiate between potentially offensive language, sarcasm, and friendly jokes “, they explained from Twitter.
Twitter strives to reduce toxicity in its users' posts
Credit: Twitter From now on, then, the social network will consider the relationship between the author of the original tweet and the person who responds. Basically, the platform will analyze if the accounts follow each other and if they interact frequently . If so, you will understand that name calling can be part of a specific conversation tone and requires no intervention.
Twitter will also adjust its technology to detect when certain potentially offensive language is claimed by “underrepresented communities” and used in a non-harmful way. Access to feedback tools will also be facilitated for users to indicate if they received a wrong warning.
One point to note is that the offensive response warnings update is currently available on a limited basis. From today it will be received by those who have Twitter settings enabled in English , both on iOS and Android. The next step will be to extend the scope of this new configuration to other languages.
