Earlier this month, Twitter confirmed that it would release features to control the amount of replies user received on tweets. The company said today that its “hide replies” feature will officially launch in June , giving users more control over their conversations. The newest announcement comes after a few Twitter updates set to make the company’s user experience more pleasant. Twitter, like many other social media platforms, has been battling an influx of hate speech over the past few years. Twitter has banned dehumanizing speech, suspended hundreds of thousands of robot and abusive accounts and updated its reporting processes to target user violations on its platform. But some of Twitter’s efforts fall flat. The company said that it would begin labeling tweets from some public figures that break its rules under its public interest clause. Direct threats won’t be tolerated; however, the lines seem to be blurred on the other types of offenses public figures can toy with. Twitter...

Midterm elections are right around the corner and Twitter is still dealing with misinformation on it’s platform. Friday, the social media giant revealed that it’s removed more than 10,000 accounts linked to targeted misinformation campaigns since late September. Twitter was notified by the Democratic Party and said the removed accounts violated its policies. The social media company and other platforms have been criticized as their websites are used to spread misinformation, propaganda and as a place for hate speech and violence. Last week, Twitter said it lost more than 9 million accounts after the company began aggressively removing robot and spam accounts from the platform. In September Twitter updated its usage policy forbidding the use of dehumanizing language emphasizing its efforts to remove problematic content. The updated policy does not focus on voter suppression and misinformation and the company has been criticized by lawmakers for not proactively removing bot accounts....

In an effort to make its platform safer for all its users, Twitter has banned dehumanizing speech — and it’s letting users weigh in. On Tuesday, the company announced in a blog post , that it is expanding its hateful conduct policy and has developed new rules to rid itself of profiles that post “content that dehumanizes others based on their membership in an identifiable group, even when the material does not include a direct target. ” Twitter defines dehumanizing speech as language that denies other individuals and identifiable groups of human qualities or human nature. Essentially, calling someone or a group an animal, virus, or genitalia will get you kicked off of the platform. “Language that makes someone less than human can have repercussions off the service, including normalizing serious violence,” the company said. Twitter has previously received backlash for allegations of bias when suspending and banning users who violated its behavior policies. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has...