Remember when you were in grade school and found out you had a new teacher? Imagine Twitter as that class, and Elon Musk as the teacher now that a whole bunch of Twitter users are testing the boundaries of what’s allowed on the app under the tutelage of someone new.
Researchers have seen a spike in hateful language on the platform in just the last 24 hours since Musks’s takeover, a direct result of users testing the limits of Musk’s promise of a free speech platform. Given that Musk has already done away with top executives who guided moderation strategy and won’t make any decisions on the matter until convening his own council, it’s unlikely that he’ll be coming down on that kind of language any time soon.
In the meantime, we’ve gathered a few quick tips for controlling your Twitter experience and steering clear of hateful language and ideas.
If someone is harassing you
Need help ASAP? If someone is targeting you, block-followers.glitch.me will automatically block that account’s followers to prevent pile-ons. If you’re targeted by a particularly hurtful or hateful tweet, Block Party allows you to block anyone who likes or retweets it.
Once that’s done, report the account that is harassing you. It is unclear what content moderation infrastructure will remain in place as Musk takes over, but it is always worth a try. Twitter’s reporting process provides a field for explaining why a reported tweet is harmful. Use that to state your case to content moderators and move the process along more quickly.
To block or silence unwanted noise
A block chain is one of the simplest ways to control your Twitter experience, but it’s also the least discerning. When you initiate a block chain for a specific account, you block every person following that account. That means you’re blocking hundreds, even thousands, of people at one time, which is something to keep in mind.
One of the most popular block chain extensions is Twitter Block Chain, though users say Korean app Red Block is faster and more effective. Red Block is only available in Korean, but you can read an English-level explanation of how to use it by clicking this link.
You can also use a third party app like Block Party to filter your Twitter mentions so you only see tweets from the people you choose to hear from. For example, you can limit the tweets you see to those from people you follow and from verified accounts. You can also block all accounts without a profile picture or with less than 100 followers, which does a lot to weed out shitposting trolls.
Can’t remember why you blocked someone? Block Party lets you add a note, so you’ll never forget why they shouldn’t be allowed back into your digital life.
Cut down on badly behaving accounts and bots
Extensions like BotSentinel use machine learning and AI to classify and track Twitter accounts that they deems inauthentic or run by trolls, then adds the accounts to a public database.
To check if an individual account is a bot, see what Botometer thinks. Or you can use an extension like BotSight, which gives Twitter accounts in your feed a “bot-probability score” so you can tell when a tweet may not have come from a real person.
Keep in mind that reviews for these extensions note they’re not perfect and can sometimes mislabel tweets and accounts, so false positives are likely.
Use built-in safety and privacy tools
Third party apps and extensions step in to level up your privacy and security, but Twitter also offers useful moderation tools that go beyond blocking and reporting content. Try muting words, topics, or conversations to stop seeing tweets or notifications you’d rather avoid.
You can also limit replies to your tweets, so that only people you follow or mention can engage with them. Consider putting your account on private, even for just a few hours, or using your Twitter Circle to express yourself to a trusted audience.
Finally, don’t forget to step away and take a break from the internet to gain fresh air and perspective. Nature doesn’t care about how many followers you have, and is always ready to welcome you back.