The social media platform Twitter recently announced that they will start testing a new direct DM feature. This feature is supposed to make it easier to start a conversation directly from your timeline. But some users are concerned that this would make users more susceptible to harassment.
This new feature will let users enter messages to your inbox from a link in your tweet instead of having to navigate to your profile and pressing on the DM button. Although this might seem convenient, you quickly start to realize what this means for users’ privacy and safety and why it could be a bad idea.
Public Defender, Eliza Orlins, pointed out in her response to the announcement on Twitter that allowing this shortcut to DMs could make users more susceptible to harassment. The reality of abusive DMs is not a fictional story. There’s a reason why Twitter had to roll out the feature in 2019 that automatically filters out abusive DMs. Why would you want to open up this Pandora’s box once more?
Some Twitter updates make sense, like the Messenger-style pop-up tab released in 2020. This feature makes life easier for you without allowing users to send you a DM directly from a tweet. This makes us wonder if this new feature isn’t just a terrible idea?
This feature is being tested now. As far as the privacy policy is concerned, there is no news yet on whether users will have the option to disable this feature from within their settings. This is another point of concern that we hope will be clarified soon.
