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Twitter Caroline Criado-Perez

"We hear you" claims Twitter as it aims to defend its response to Caroline Criado-Perez rape threats

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By Stephen Lepitak, -

July 30, 2013 | 3 min read

As questions are asked about Twitter’s response to complaints made by users subjected to threats over the platform, Twitter has released a blog claiming that it does listen to its users.

The post, written by Del Harvey, senior director of trust & safety at Twitter, has been written in reaction to threats made against campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez which included tweets that threatened murder and rape.

Already, Tony Wang, general manager of Twitter UK has tweeted to state that the company is developing a system to simplify allowing its users to make it aware of harassment through the platform, however the criticism has continued.

The blog, entitled ‘We hear you’, was posted last night ahead of Criado-Perez’s appearance on Newsnight to discuss the incident.

Within it, Harvey defends the platform by highlighting its scale, claiming that over 400m tweets are sent each day worldwide.

“The vast majority of these use cases are positive. That said, we are not blind to the reality that there will always be people using Twitter in ways that are abusive and may harm others,” he admitted, adding that manually reviewing each tweet is not possible but that it used automated and manual systems to evaluate reports of abuse of its rules.

He also claimed that three weeks ago, Twitter rolled out the ability which would allow individual tweeted to be reported through its iPhone app and mobile website, a function it plans to expend to Android and desktop versions.

“We hope the public understands the balances we’re trying to strike as we continue to work to make our systems and processes better,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has revealed that she has written to Twitter to inform it that it’s response to the threats has been “inadequate”.

Twitter Caroline Criado-Perez

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