Twitter has recently announced that it is going to launch a “hide replies” feature in its platform this year in June. The microblogging site said that the feature will be an experiment, and it could be changed or even removed from the platform based on the users’ feedback.
The hide replies feature is likely to spark controversy in the Twitter community, as it puts the tweet poster in control of which tweets should appear in the conversation thread. This in-turn could silence opinions in contrast with the post or other fact-checked clarifications. But Twitter believes that this feature will discourage people who enter conversations with plans of trolling and making hateful comments on them.
Twitter says that this feature will also encourage people to present their opinions in a more polite and less hateful manner. If you look at other social media websites like Facebook and Instagram, the users have far more control over their posts to keep trolls and abuses away.
Michelle Yasmeen Haq, the Twitter’s PM of Health said in a tweet, “With this “Hide Replies” feature, the person who started a conversation could choose to hide replies to their tweets. The hidden replies would be viewable by others through a menu option.”
It shows that the hidden replies won’t be removed from the conversation entirely, instead this feature will make it difficult for users to view abusing content. Twitter also unveiled that they are launching many other features alongside “hide replies” function on its platform.
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