Twitter is working on a keyword-based tool that will let people filter posts they see, giving users an effective way to block out harassing and offensive tweets, according to people familiar with the matter.
The San Francisco-based company has been discussing how to implement the tool for about a year as it seeks to stem abuse on the site, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiative isn’t public. By using keywords, users could block swear words or racial slurs, for example, to screen out offenders.
Twitter has struggled to find a technological solution to the turmoil that can result from the product’s core feature: Anyone can publicly say anything to anyone else.
Abuse has led to many high-profile departures of celebrities and journalists, who say they can no longer stand to be attacked. There was a New York Times reporter who quit after enduring a spate of anti-Semitic tweets, for example, as well as an actress Leslie Jones, who faced a similar barrage of racist and sexist attacks.
The filtering tool could eventually become a moderator for any kind of content, people said. For example, users could block a hashtag about an event they don’t care to read about. A spokesman for Twitter declined to comment.