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To Address Cyberbullying, Twitter Beefs Up Mute, Revamps Hateful Conduct Reporting

Cyberbullying, harassment and abuse are on the rise on Twitter, the company says

Twitter says it's giving users more tools to combat abuse that's becoming more common on the social media platform.

Users are getting more options for muting tweets they don't want to see, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. Reporting hateful conduct is becoming direct as well, and Twitter's support teams have been retrained on contextualizing hateful conduct so the company can take action faster and more transparently.

"We don't expect these announcements to suddenly remove abusive conduct from Twitter. No single action by us would do that. Instead we commit to rapidly improving Twitter based on everything we observe and learn," the blog post said.

The expanded muting function being rolled out in the coming days allows users to mute phrases, keywords and conversations. Twitter said in the blog post that it's been a commonly requested feature.

Cyberbullying, harassment and abuse are on the rise on Twitter, the company said, and many on the platform have sought more action from Twitter to put an end to it.

Among the many people who have decried cyberbullying is Melania Trump, wife of President-elect Donald Trump. She's said she will make reigning in cyberbullying her priority as first lady.

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