Twitter introduces tool to mute words, hashtags and emoji

Twitter is trying to win back the support of people who have left the network.

Twitter has debuted a number of new tools to cut down on harassment and improve user engagement on a network that repeatedly has been accused of fostering hate speech through its public forum.

The main feature is an expansion of the "mute" tool that previously only allowed for the silencing of individual accounts. Now, users can mute or block specific words, hashtags and even emoji, along with individual conversations, to prevent being notified when those terms are used. Twitter wrote in a blog post,

This is a feature we've heard many of you ask for, and we're going to keep listening to make it better and more comprehensive over time.

The new tool comes into effect over the coming days for all users worldwide, and is being introduced alongside a revamped "hateful conduct policy" that makes it easier to report hate speech and other harassing behavior. Twitter says it has also trained "all of our support teams on our policies, including special sessions on cultural and historical contextualization of hateful conduct, and implemented an ongoing refresher program. We've also improved our internal tools and systems in order to deal more effectively with this conduct when it's reported to us. Our goal is a faster and more transparent process."

Despite being demoed on iOS, the Android version should work the same as below.

What do you think? Will this be an effective tool to stop harassment?