Tech News
Twitter is Developing a Don’t “Mention” Feature
The feature may be tested by allowing mentions from everyone, only the individuals you follow, or no one.
Keynotes
- App researcher and coder Jane Manchun Wong found a feature in testing that allowed users to completely block mentions of themselves.
- The technology might end bullying and harassment and provide marginalised individuals with more self-defense.
- Wong posted an image of the choices to enable anybody to mention you (the default), limit mentions to individuals you follow, or disable them.
Jane Manchun Wong, an app researcher and programmer, found a feature in testing that would let users stop other users from saying anything about them at all. Dominic Camozzi, Twitter’s privacy designer, said in a comment that has since been deleted that the feature is in the works and asked for user feedback.
As a result, you may not be able to reach out to a stranger across the site to say hey or point out anything to them if Twitter users are allowed to restrict who can @ them. The technology has the potential to stop bullying and harassment campaigns and provide marginalised people with an additional means of self-defence.
Wong shared a screenshot that showed how you can choose to let anyone mention you (which is the current default), only let people you follow mention you, or turn mentions off altogether. Twitter users already choose who may communicate with them, so this wouldn’t be a first for the service. Its Twitter Circles feature, which was added in 2019, lets you make your tweets only visible to people in a certain group, like people you follow or people you mention in a tweet.
