Twitter’s redesigned process for reporting policy violations on its platform is now generally available, the company has announced. It’s designed to handle everything from misinformation and spam reports to harassment and hate speech. The redesign has been in test since December of last year and uses a so-called “symptom-first reporting flow” designed to make it easier to report bad behavior. It is now available in ‘most countries’ via the web, iOS and Android.
The company outlined how the new process works in a blog post last year†Previously, the Twitter process asked which policy was violated and then asked for more details. Instead, the new flow asks for details about what happened, before become more detailed about which rules may have been broken. Twitter’s blog post compared the new trial to a doctor asking, “Where does it hurt?” rather than jumping straight to details.
The first results of the tests were positive. Twitter says the number of “action-oriented reports” has increased by 50 percent as a result of the new process.
The rollout of the new reporting stream comes as Elon Musk’s attempted takeover of the platform has re-examined Twitter’s moderation policies. Musk’s position as a “free speech absolutistsuggests that he would like the company to take a much more relaxed approach to content moderation under its ownership. But since Tesla’s CEO has repeatedly threatened to pull the deal, it’s still unclear when, or even if, the acquisition can be completed.