After a slew of cyber threats and aggressive tweets targeted women in the UK this week, Twitter unveiled a new in-tweet report button and updated its rules around abusive online behavior.
The microblogging site announced Saturday that it would crack down on online abuse and clarified existing conduct rules in a blog post. (A petition was posted on change.org imploring Twitter to increase its security and add a report-abuse function.)
Twitter's blog post came several days after this week's revelations that bomb and rape threats were made against high-profile women. Posted on Twitter's UK blog, it was written by Del Harvey, the site's senior director of trust and safety, and Tony Wang, its UK general manager.
"It comes down to this: People deserve to feel safe on Twitter," they wrote. "Over the past week, we've been listening to your feedback on how we can improve our service. You told us that we need to make our rules clearer, simplify our abuse-reporting process and promote the responsible use of Twitter."
In terms of the updated rules, a Twitter spokesperson told Mashable that abuse was already on the staff's radar, but added that the new breakdown is more exhaustive and includes specific categories, such as harassment.
Twitter has also developed an in-tweet report button to simplify the process of reporting abuse. Instead of visiting the Help Center, users will be able to flag messages directly from tweets via apps and the web. The button is currently available on the latest version of the iOS Twitter app, as well as on the mobile web. It is expected to appear on Android and desktop in September.
Twitter is hiring more staff to help handle abuse reports, and will be working closely with the UK Safer Internet Centre to provide users with an experience that is as harmless and informative as possible, the site said.
Twitter told Mashable that its rules update won't likely appear on the site's U.S. blog, as most of the threats were made in the UK. It confirmed that the changes resulted from the outcry over the online threats against female journalists and government officials.
Campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez and Labour Party MP Stella Creasy received rape threats, while Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, Time's Europe editor Catherine Mayer and Independent columnist Grace Dent received bomb threats. Mayer and Dent shared their tweets for others to see:
Posting this for @Twitter @metpoliceuk. Not very credible-sounding bomb threat addressed to me pic.twitter.com/I7SdCp56oL
— Catherine Mayer (@catherine_mayer) July 31, 2013
well, this is a new low. pic.twitter.com/dpxvSb1Bfe
— Grace Dent (@gracedent) July 31, 2013
The Guardian reported that arrests have already been made in relation to the rape threats.
Criado-Perez told CNN she's still receiving threats, and that the usual advice — don't feed the trolls — isn't working.
"To ignore them would just be to give them what they want," she said. "They want you to shut up; they want you to feel like that they've won."
Criado-Perez encouraged women in similar positions to follow suit, and report abusive tweets. The Guardian also reported that Greater London's Metropolitan police has launched investigations into eight threat allegations, and that the anonymous Twitter accounts from which the bomb threats originated have been suspended.
What do you think about Twitter's response? How should cyber threats be handled? Discuss in the comments, below.
Image: iStockphoto, Henrik5000 and Twitter
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