Digital Smarts - Twitter Vows Yet Again to Crack Down on Hate Speech

When it comes to hateful exchanges online, most people think of Twitter as the worst offender. Twitter has vowed several times to put a lid on abuse, but it is still often gone unchecked. Recently, Twitter has offered new attempts to stop abuse, including preventing people who have been permanently suspended from Twitter from creating new accounts, and identifying accounts that were created "only to abuse and harass others.” "Safe search" results are also being turned on for users. These results remove tweets that contain sensitive content such as violent or pornographic images or language, or tweets that come from blocked or muted accounts. Twitter is also working to identify and "collapse" potentially abusive and "low quality" replies to tweets.

Of course, it is not all for purely altruistic reasons. The Walt Disney Co. recently decided not to pursue a bid for Twitter, citing concern about bullying on the service. The lack of interest from potential acquirers cranked up pressure on Twitter management, which has fallen out of favor with Wall Street, to do something about the abuse.