online abuse
Instagram’s DM filter tool now expands to Story replies, claims to catch intentional spelling mistakes
After facing criticism over failing to protect users from abusive accounts, Instagram has been steadily introducing new safety tools over the last few years. Today, the company is launching new…
Social media giants are failing women, finds Ofcom
Ofcom, the U.K.’s soon-to-be social media harms watchdog under incoming online safety legislation, has warned tech platforms that they are failing to take women’s safety seriously. Publishing new research (PDF)…
The European Union has formally presented its proposal to move from a situation in which some tech platforms voluntarily scan for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to something more systematic…
UK wants to squeeze freedom of reach to take on internet trolls
The UK government has announced (yet) more additions to its expansive and controversial plan to regulate online content — aka the Online Safety Bill. It says the latest package of…
Twitter launches beta test of anti-abuse tool ‘Safety Mode,’ adds prompts to enable it
Twitter is broadening access to a feature called Safety Mode, designed to give users a set of tools to defend themselves against the toxicity and abuse that is still far…
Instagram launches tools to filter out abusive DMs based on keywords and emojis, and to block people, even on new accounts
Facebook and its family of apps have long grappled with the issue of how to better manage — and eradicate — bullying and other harassment on its platform, turning both…
Twitter rolls out Stories, aka ‘Fleets,’ to all users; will also test a Clubhouse rival
Twitter this morning is launching its own version of Stories — aka “Fleets” — to its global user base. The product, which allows users to post ephemeral content that disappears…
Twitter opens its ‘Hide Replies’ feature to developers
Last November, Twitter rolled out its Hide Replies feature to all users worldwide. The feature, largely designed to lessen the power of online trolls to disrupt conversations, lets users decide…
Featured Article
Despite bans, Giphy still hosts self-harm, hate speech and child sex abuse content
Image search engine Giphy bills itself as providing a “fun and safe way” to search and create animated GIFs. But despite its ban on illicit content, the site is littered with self-harm and child sex abuse imagery, TechCrunch has learned. A new report from Israeli online child protection startup L1ght — previously AntiToxin Technologies —…
Twitter launches its controversial ‘Hide Replies’ feature in the US and Japan
Twitter’s controversial “Hide Replies” feature, aimed at civilizing conversations on its platform, is launching today in the U.S. and Japan after earlier tests in Canada. The addition is one of…
Twitter launches the ‘Hide Replies’ feature, in hopes of civilizing conversations
Twitter today is beginning its test of a radical and controversial change to its service with the launch of a new “Hide Replies” feature. Effectively, this option gives users the…
Twitter to launch a ‘hide replies’ feature, plus other changes to its reporting process
In February, Twitter confirmed its plans to launch a feature that would allow users to hide replies that they felt didn’t contribute to a conversation. Today, alongside news of other…
Marking 30 years of the web, Tim Berners-Lee calls for a joint fight against disinformation
The inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has published an open letter to mark the 30th anniversary of the day — March 12, 1989 — when he…
Twitter is purging accounts that were trying to evade prior suspensions
Twitter announced this afternoon it will begin booting accounts off its service from those who have tried to evade their account suspension. The company says that the accounts in question…
Tall Poppy aims to make online harassment protection an employee benefit
For the nearly 20 percent of Americans who experience severe online harassment, there’s a new company launching in the latest batch of Y Combinator called Tall Poppy that’s giving them…
Twitter violates womens’ human rights, according to Amnesty International
Twitter has found itself under fire again. This time, it’s coming from Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization that focuses on human rights. Amnesty International’s new report, “#ToxicTwitter: Violence and abuse…
Twitter users join 24hr boycott to protest online harassment
A number of Twitter users are joining in a 24 hour boycott of the platform today, organized around the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter, to draw attention to online harassment on social media,…
UK eyeing fines for social media content-moderation failures
A U.K. minister has suggested the party is open to bringing in financial penalties or otherwise changing the law in order to encourage social media firms to improve their content-moderation…
Online abuse remains the big hairy monster in the room for platforms powered by user-generated content. Twitter especially has had some very sizable and public problems with problem users. A…
