Accounts that share "sensitive content" will be labeled and restricted from search
X (formerly Twitter) is all set to roll out a brand new software update that will notify users if their account has been shadowbanned. Twitter boss Elon Musk had first promised the feature last year. Andrea Conway, a designer at X, on Tuesday, previewed what the alert for a shadowban on the platform could look like.
She tweeted, ''starting transparency somewhere'' and shared two previews from her own account detailing the alerts for a shadowban. The first picture showed a notifications tab with a message that read, ''We have added a label to your account which may impact its reach.'' The second picture provided an explanation of why that particular tweet had a label and what this meant for the account.
See the tweet here:
''Why does my account have a label? We have found that your account potentially contains sensitive media such as graphic, violent, nudity, sexual behavior, hateful symbols, or other sensitive content. We allow sensitive media on X, as long as it doesn't break our sensitive media policy. If you want to share sensitive content, mark your media as sensitive,'' it explains.
''We may cover your posts with a warning so people who don't want to see sensitive content can avoid it. The reach of your account and its content may also be restricted, such as being excluded from the For You and Following timelines, recommended notifications, trends, and search results,'' it read further.
Users will also be provided with an appeal button so that they can request X to revisit its decision.
As per TechCrunch, in the event a shadowban is enforced, users can post to the platform as usual but their tweets won't get the traction and replies they normally would.
Last month, Elon Musk apologized for why the process is taking so long and explained what's holding up X from providing this data to users. ''There are so many layers of “trust & safety” software that it often takes us hours to figure out who, how, and why an account was suspended or shadowbanned. A ground-up rewrite is underway that simplifies the X codebase dramatically,'' he wrote.
Notably, X has yet to fully implement this alert system and the previews shared by Ms Conway are still subject to change.