Twitter Coming for the Trolls

Twitter has today announced some product and policy changes aimed at better tackling violent threats and abuse on its platform.

The problem of the mainstream social network being misappropriated as an amplification medium for minority hate groups to — for instance — spread jihadist terrorist sentiments and propaganda, or harass and threaten women with messages of violent misogyny, has risen up the political agenda in recent times, especially given the spread of ISIS in the Middle East.

Away from terrorism, the GamerGate saga also rebounded on Twitter as women involved in the games industry found its platform turned into a conduit for violently misogynistic and sustained online harassment that has included death and rape threats, graphic material and doxxing.

Great news from Twitter.