Twitter (NYSE:$TWTR) has been scrutinized numerous times for not doing anything to stop the spread of cyberbullying, fake news, and propaganda on its platform. And, for the past several months, the social media service has done everything in its power to curb instances of online abuse and harassment. On Thursday, the San Francisco-based company released new internal data which showed some of the progress it’s made in cutting down on ill-mannered behavior by some of its users.
According to the data, Twitter has taken action against abusive accounts 10 times more often this year compared to the same period in 2016. To put “taking action” into perspective, Twitter has been suspending accounts – or, limiting a user’s ability to use the service – on “thousands more abusive accounts” per day. Additionally, Twitter has said that it got rid of twice as many repeat offenders (users that create new accounts after being suspended) over the past four months.
Perhaps the most important thing that Twitter has stated is that it is “driving change in behavior” among users who have had to face the consequences of abusive actions on the service. Twitter said it has witnessed a 25% dip in abusive reports for accounts that were previously punished, and 65% of users who have been punished do not repeat their offenses. Additionally, Twitter has added that its new quality filter – which came out earlier this month – has caused a 40% drop in the number of blocks issued by accounts that have received a ‘mention’ from accounts that don’t follow them.
“While there is still much work to be done, people are experiencing significantly less abuse on Twitter today than they were six months ago,” Ed Ho wrote in a blog post on Thursday. Ho is Twitter’s consumer product and engineering general manager.
Over the course of the past year, Twitter has launched new features that are meant to reduce online bullying on its service, which includes using an algorithm to detect abuse before it is reported. With all of these new features, it seems that Twitter is working on shedding the reputation of a company that cares more about free speech than making sure that their platform is a harassment-free experience for its users.
Overall, the ability to police abusive behavior could help Twitter’s financial health, as the company needs to show regular, significant user growth in order to satisfy investors who are worried that Twitter is falling behind Facebook and Instagram.
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