This morning, it was announced that Twitter’s latest “feature” will allow users to receive DMs from anyone, regardless if you follow them or not. CNET essentially attributes the change to corporate pressures to raise Twitter’s bottom line – but unfortunately, CNET also caused some major online panic, because they forgot to mention that the “update” is completely optional and automatically turned off for everyone.
Though none of us on TMS yet have access to the new feature, here’s how you can guarantee it’s turned off on your account:
How to accept Twitter DM’s from anyone (via http://t.co/RpAeqErFOf) Twitter > Settings > Security & Privacy pic.twitter.com/IcqYsWvwX6
— That Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) April 20, 2015
Which is wonderful, because for a great majority of us, if this update were mandatory it would spell disaster and a quick ragequit from Twitter forever. This new feature is especially distressing in the midst of all of Twitter’s talk about their serious commitment to mitigating harassment on their platform. If they were really so big on stopping assholes from sending you constant death threats, it’s a huge bummer that they’ve spent time and money working on a feature that will make harassment much, much easier for many people. And for what – to be more like Facebook Messenger? So brands can directly spam you with ads?
Well, maybe they can use all those extra brand dollars to hire a ton of new people for their anti-harassment team so that their platform actually remains useable.
(image via Shutterstock)
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
