As Twitter continues to contend with its not-insignificant “Nazi issue” (the issue is that Nazis are on Twitter), it’s rolling out even more granular ways to filter what users can and can’t see, in order to preemptively head off harassment.
The newest additions to this are two conditions that filter based on account age and follow status. Previously, users could choose to ignore notifications from accounts that they didn’t follow, as well as “egg” accounts, which are identified by a lack of profile picture, and possibly an unverified email address or phone number connected to the account — telltale signs of a burner account.
Now, users can also turn off push notifications from accounts that don’t follow them — a helpful inverse, possibly more helpful than muting those accounts a user doesn’t follow. They can also turn off notifications from accounts specified as “new,” though Twitter has not specified what the threshold for that will be.
The changes contribute to Twitter’s anti-harassment approach, known informally as hellbanning — muting someone without their knowledge. On message boards, it’s an effective tactic against trolls, who feed off of getting an angry reaction. Whether it’ll get racists and misogynists to pack up and go home remains to be seen.
