Twitter is examining a new way to send no direct messages on iOS
Twitter is examining a new way to send no direct messages on iOS
Twitter is examining a new way to send no direct messages on iOS, and it involves allowing users to swipe into their inbox via a link in their tweets, bypassing the DM button on their profile. The social platform says this will make it easier to "start a conversation" from your timeline, but one can probably see how this can go very, very wrong.
As public defender Eliza Orlins points out, offering your DMs a shortcut could make users even more susceptible to harassment. Instead of clicking through to their profile to access their inbox, users can share their thoughts through private messages without ever leaving the timeline (and just as quickly as they could reply to his tweet).
It's hard to see who exactly might benefit from this feature - close friends might want a quick way to DM. Still, we think most people are comfortable going to a friend's Twitter profile to send them a message or continue an existing conversation from your inbox.
Giving users direct access to someone's private messages could open a Pandora's Box of problems. Twitter already knows that obnoxious DMs can be a problem, so it launched a feature in 2019 that automatically filters out abusive DMs. While Twitter did implement a Messenger-style popup tab on the web in 2020, it makes sense. Unlike this new DM button, it doesn't give you a shortcut to DM someone in direct response to a tweet but instead allows you to choose from your existing conversations (or type the username of the person you want to DM).
If this new DM button ever makes it out of testing, it's unclear if there will be an option for users to disable the feature for security and privacy reasons.
"This particular experiment is not changing the current settings of anyone's DMs," Twitter spokesperson Charlotte Catania said in a statement emailed to The Verge. "We're always exploring ways to make DMs more accessible and valuable for people on Twitter, and they will always remain in control: anyone has the ability to close their DMs in their settings."