Twitter belatedly pledges action against trolls
Twitter has pledged to finally implement a series of "long overdue" harassment fixes as early as this week following years of concern at the targeted trolling of members.
Vice president of engineering Ed Ho outlined the impending measures via a tweet, promising "fixes to mute/block" functionality and a new tool to block trolls from creating multiple new accounts to circumvent bans.
These changes will be introduced as early as this week with additional measures promised in a rolling program of updates as part of a concerted effort to get on top of the problem.
Making Twitter a safer place is our primary focus and we are now moving with more urgency than ever.
— Ed Ho (@mrdonut) January 31, 2017
This initiative was endorsed by CEO Jack Dorsey who asserted that the package of measures was the opening salvo in a "completely new approach to abuse".
It is not clear precisely what form many of these changes will take as yet, but Dorsey also promised to engage with users in "real-time dialogue" throughout every step of the process.
The move may be fuelled in large part by a failed sale of the business last year, with many buyers turned off by rampant abuse on the platform.