In a shocking twist, Twitter has made a problematic decision in an attempt to turn people toward getting a Twitter Blue subscription. There’s a new setting for Twitter DMs that could opt everyone in. However, this setting has the potential for some major harassment.
Elon Musk is still trying to make Twitter profitable. However, it seems that with every step forward the company makes… let’s not kid ourselves, the company’s been taking steps back since Elon took the helm. Since ad revenue is down, Twitter is focusing a lot on making Twitter Blue a worthwhile option.
A new setting for Twitter DMs could lead to harassment
When you’re using Twitter, you have the ability to send and receive direct messages. While this is the case, you have some settings to control who can contact you. You can either receive messages from everyone or only from people who you follow. It was a good system, so naturally, the company had to come and mess it up.
There are a ton of people on the platform who don’t want to receive messages from just anyone. These are celebrities, influencers, journalists, etc.. They have a high follower count, and they can be prey to all sorts of malicious messages and harassment.
Well, this new feature could open the gates for such things. This setting will allow messages from those you follow and any verified user. Back when the verification system was more exclusive, that wouldn’t have been as bad.
However, just about anyone who pays the $8/month can message people with those settings. This creates a low barrier to entry for people who want to contact people they weren’t allowed to before.
There’s also another downside
This setting also means that people who want to receive messages from everyone will see a dip in their messages. If you’re not verified or followed by that person, you can’t message them. This could be bad for creators who want to interact with their community or be contacted by companies.
WTF Twitter.
I started to see little to no DMs: and I keep my DMs open at all times, on purpose.
Twitter SILENTLY changed my (maybe everyone’s?) settings to only allow messages from only people I follow + verified users.
Go to Settings -> Privacy and safety -> DMs to change it pic.twitter.com/41GRzulbw9
— Gergely Orosz (@GergelyOrosz) July 15, 2023
This, in and of itself is bad, but what makes this worse is that Twitter automatically opted people into this setting by default. It stated that it can easily be disabled, yet it didn’t directly explain how to.
How to disable this setting
If you don’t like this setting, it’s easy to disable it. In the app, open the side panel on the left of the screen and tap on the Settings & Support button and then tap on Settings & Privacy.
There, go to Privacy and Safety and tap on Direct Messages. On that screen, you’ll see the settings. Select the setting that you want.
2023-07-18 15:10:48