About Safety Mode
X is currently testing an autoblock feature called Safety Mode in select regions. X detects and blocks potentially abusive or spammy accounts from joining your conversations on X.
Now, when you send a post that generates unwelcome interactions, you may not need to manually block those accounts to stop the unwelcome interactions because X will do it for you. Autoblocks last for 7 days, and they won’t impact people you follow or interact with regularly.
Safety Mode highlights
- X does the work, autoblocks come from us.
- Autoblocks are temporary (unlike manual account blocks which you manage).
- If we get it wrong, you can remove the autoblock from the account.
- Autoblocked accounts can’t interact with you, and won’t:
- see your posts
- follow you
- send you Direct Messages
- Autoblocked accounts will only see that “X has autoblocked” them, rather than you.
- Existing replies from autoblocked accounts move to the bottom of the conversation.
Safety Mode FAQ
How does Safety Mode work?
When Safety Mode is activated, Twitter looks for potentially abusive or spammy behavior like harmful language, repetitive negative replies, and unsolicited mentions. Twitter flags such accounts and automatically blocks them from replying to your Tweets. Autoblock prevents these accounts from interacting with you again for 7 days.
What is an autoblock?
Autoblock is Twitter’s way of helping people control unwelcome interactions. When you activate Safety Mode, Twitter flags accounts with potentially abusive or spammy behavior. Twitter automatically blocks accounts that engage in abusive or spammy behavior from interacting with you for 7 days. This temporarily relieves you from the need to manually block an account.
What does Twitter consider “abusive or spammy?"
We see accounts that engage in bulk or aggressive activity as potentially abusive because it disrupts your experience. Potentially spammy behavior impacts otherwise healthy conversations and looks like Tweeting repetitive content, sending unsolicited mentions/replies, using unrelated hashtags to get attention, and/or following indiscriminately.
Does Safety Mode permanently block abusive accounts?
Safety Mode provides temporary autoblocks that expire after 7 days, but you can choose to lengthen or shorten you're time in Safety Mode. Safety Mode settings let you choose between 1, 3 or 7 days to stay in Safety Mode.
How do I activate Safety Mode?
There are two ways to activate Safety Mode. The first is opportunity to activate this feature is from the proactive prompt that Twitter sends when we detect that several Tweets you’re receiving appear to create unwanted attention or engagement. The second way to activate Safety Mode is from your Privacy and Safety settings.
How will I know an account has been autoblocked?
When you first turn on Safety Mode, you can tap Review Tweets and accounts to see who has responded to your Tweet with potentially abusive or spammy replies. Before Safety Mode expires, we’ll send a second notification about the negative interactions Twitter autoblocked.
You can access view details of the blocked accounts under the autoblocked accounts screen.
Can I adjust how long an account is autoblocked?
The autoblock feature lasts for seven days from the time the account was autoblocked. If you’d like to extend that time, we suggest manually blocking the account.
What if someone I know was autoblocked by mistake?
We don’t autoblock accounts you follow but if you feel we made a mistake, you can unblock them at any time by navigating to the autoblocked tab under your Privacy and safety menu. You can find this under your Settings menu.
Can I manually block an account that was autoblocked in Safety Mode?
If you’d like to manually block an account you’ll need to do it from the account’s profile or from the autoblocks list.
I don’t see Safety Mode in my settings. How do I get access?
We’re testing Safety Mode with a small number of people to get product feedback and learn how we can make Safety Mode better before rolling it out more broadly.