We delete millions of spam accounts a day to control trolls, says Twitter

Advertisement
We delete millions of spam accounts a day to control trolls, says Twitter
Twitter IndiaBCCL
  • Twitter has rolled out various safety features that aims to safeguard its users against targeted attacks and trolls.
  • The social platform removes millions of spam accounts everyday and at times shortly after the creation.
  • Putting on the “Safety Mode" helps Twitter scan and automatically block interactions from "harmful" accounts for seven days.
Advertisement
From memes and jokes to name-calling — celebrities, politicians, brands, activists and even journalists are targeted and trolled on a regular basis. Twitter deletes millions of such spam accounts on a regular basis.

With rampant access to social media, the amount of social media trolling and the number of spam accounts are rapidly growing and, therefore, its is important for social media apps like Twitter to take definitive steps to curb it.

Preetha Athrey, who is the director at global business marketing for APAC at Twitter tells Business Insider in an exclusive interview that the platform has been working on it constantly.“Our priority is to keep people on the platform safe and this is something we constantly do. We review a lot of content and a lot of reports that come to us,” Athrey said.

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More
Twitter has also rolled out various safety features which will safeguard its users against targeted attacks and trolls. “We constantly communicate about the new safety features to our users we have launched. 'Unmention’ to give people more control over their mentions. ‘Unmention’ lets you untag yourself from a conversation, so you can no longer be mentioned in replies. Additionally, people can also control who engages with the conversations they are starting,” Athrey said.

Unmention feature was rolled out by the company in July this year and it allow the users to remove themselves from an unwanted conversation in which they don’t wish to be a part of.

Advertisement

"Through Conversation Settings, people on the service can choose who can engage with and reply to their Tweets. In March 2021, we also extended Conversation Settings to our brand partners. Through our policies, products, and partnerships, we’re already seeing progress happen, and we’ll continue to invest in brand safety to make Twitter a safer place for all. We understand that ultimately, behind every Tweet is a breathing, thinking, and feeling individual who wrote it, and we are committed to our job to empower them, protect them, and encourage them so they can share that voice freely,” Athrey added.

Another feature rolled by the social media app is Safety Mode. By turning on "Safety Mode" in settings, a user can have Twitter scan and it will automatically block interactions from "harmful" accounts for seven days.

Accounts that are blocked with this feature will be unable to follow a user, see a user's tweets, or send direct message, albeit only temporarily.

Generally, these trolls or negative hashtags are spread by people using fake accounts. And nonetheless, removing these accounts is a part of controlling trolls.

Twitter removes one million spam accounts everyday. “We remove millions of spam accounts everyday during the day or shortly after the creation,” Athrey told Business Insider India.

Advertisement
Earlier this month, the global executives of the social media platform also highlighted in a briefing that the number of spam accounts represent below 5% of its active user base each quarter.

The app also removes a lot of suspected accounts. “ We also block a lot of suspected spam accounts each week if they don’t pass human verification like captcha, phone or email address,” Athrey said.

“We use technology and human review in concert and proactively tackle attempts on platform manipulations,” she further added.

SEE ALSO:
Indians go to Twitter videos for news, updates and to follow celebrities, says study
Markets trend higher as FII flows reverse and top companies hit 52-week high
{{}}