What you need to know
- Twitter is testing a change that will let people mark individual tweets as being problematic.
- Twitter users can mark their entire account as containing sensitive media already, but this is a more granular option.
- There's no telling when the feature will come to everyone's accounts.
Social network Twitter is testing a change that will make it easier for people to mark photos and videos as sensitive. The change means people can mark media as containing nudity, violence, or sensitive content as and when they post it.
While people can mark media with a warning now, they have to do it across their entire account. This change would allow people to do it on an ad-hoc basis for the first time — and Twitter says it's now testing it out with some people to see how it goes down.
Twitter made the announcement via its Twitter Safety account, complete with GIF showing the process people can follow when marking images and video as being "unsettling or sensitive."
People use Twitter to discuss what’s happening in the world, which sometimes means sharing unsettling or sensitive content. We’re testing an option for some of you to add one-time warnings to photos and videos you Tweet out, to help those who might want the warning. pic.twitter.com/LCUA5QCoOVPeople use Twitter to discuss what’s happening in the world, which sometimes means sharing unsettling or sensitive content. We’re testing an option for some of you to add one-time warnings to photos and videos you Tweet out, to help those who might want the warning. pic.twitter.com/LCUA5QCoOV— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) December 7, 2021December 7, 2021
Marking an image or video is as simple as tapping a flag icon in the editing screen, although it's possible the workflow could change as Twitter receives feedback.
Twitter isn't saying when this feature will be rolled out to everyone, likely because it might not at all. The company runs tests like this with a small group of people to see whether features should be made available to everyone although this one does seem something of a no-brainer. It's also a feature that will be specific to the official Twitter app, something that will be disappointing to those who don't believe it to be the best iPhone app for using the service.
