Sources: Twitter is testing new privacy-focused tools, including archiving and hiding old tweets and editing follower lists, as part of a “social privacy” push
Users will soon be able to remove followers. This is currently only possible by blocking someone. Twitter plans to test this feature starting this month.” https://twitter.com/... @fancytomboy : Thank god because the people I follow... I don't need to see their likes AT ALL. Lol! https://twitter.com/... Marsha Collier / @marshacollier : Twitter has plans to let users hide their old tweets 👉🏻 The feature is still in the ‘concept’ phase #SocialMedia via @Verge https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... IsolatedSocaHoe / @gus_jordm : The racists, transphobes, homophobes, misogynists and abusers are all rejoicing. https://twitter.com/... @get_innocuous : Great for privacy, so/so for OSINT. Specifically the ability to hide likes, which I know folks like @conspirator0 rely on to find bots. Hopefully they'll continue to publish the number of likes (which @TwitterDev still hasn't been added to the V2 API...) https://www.theverge.com/... Elias Makos / @eliasmakos : In settings, there will be a YES/NO toggle switch under the question “Are you currently being considered to host a TV show and/or awards ceremony?” https://twitter.com/... Matt Navarra / @mattnavarra : New twitter features being considered • Archive tweets - hide old tweets after 30, 60, 90 days or 1 yr • Removing followers - remove followers in one or two taps • Hiding tweets you've liked - show likes to: everyone, followers only, or select groups https://www.bloomberg.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Twitter is planning to let you hide your old tweets 👍https://www.theverge.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... Dieter Bohn / @backlon : FINALLY. Serioiusly, finally. How has it taken Twitter THIS LONG to implement THIS OBVIOUS AND NEEDED feature? To recognize what kind of thing it is and what it is used for — both good and bad? https://www.theverge.com/... Tom Gara / @tomgara : It's wild that the archive old tweets option has taken this long https://twitter.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : @KurtWagner8 ah yes social privacy or as it is sometimes also called, privacy Kurt Wagner / @kurtwagner8 : The focus is on “social privacy,” or the idea that people want more control over their reputation and how they “appear” online. Internal research found that a lot of Twitter users don't even know if their account is public or private. Makes them more hesitant to tweet @db : Archiving your old tweets, hiding your liked tweets, forcing a follower unfollow, and leaving conversations are literally all I ever wanted... in addition to editing tweets. https://twitter.com/... Martin Sfp Bryant / @martinsfp : Long overdue but very welcome. https://twitter.com/...
The reported “social privacy” push matters because it treats visibility, past activity, and audience access as separate settings rather than a single public-or-private choice.
First-order effects
Twitter users testing the tools can remove followers without blocking them, choose who sees liked posts, and potentially archive or hide older tweets after set periods.
Twitter’s product team must turn reputation and visibility controls into account-level settings alongside its existing conversation-safety features.
Second-order effects
Users gain a less confrontational way to narrow an audience, reducing the need to use blocking when the goal is simply to end a follower relationship.
The trusted-audience and persona experiments become more useful when users can also limit the visibility of older posts and likes, creating a broader set of audience-management choices.
Third-order effects
If Twitter carries the tests into its core product, social platforms may increasingly compete on granular control of context and audience rather than treating posts as permanently public by default.
The shift points toward profile privacy being managed as an ongoing product layer—covering followers, engagement history, and past posts—rather than only as moderation or account-security tooling.
The trend: Social platforms are moving from binary privacy settings toward granular controls over who can access a user’s conversations, social graph, and historical activity.
New: Twitter is planning a bunch of new privacy features, including the ability to archive old tweets, hide the list of tweets that you've liked, and cull your follower list https://www.bloomberg.com/...
YES: “a tool to archive old tweets so that they're no longer visible to others after a specific amount of time designated by the user.” Ship this today! https://twitter.com/...
“Removing followers — Users will soon be able to remove followers. This is currently only possible by blocking someone. Twitter plans to test this feature starting this month.” https://twitter.com/...
Twitter making it even easier for troll armies to keep abusing their platform. Meanwhile, their PR stunt about cleaning up QAnon accts turned out to be more akin to applying a fresh coat of paint to a home that's been destroyed by termites. https://twitter.com/...
Twitter has plans to let users hide their old tweets 👉🏻 The feature is still in the ‘concept’ phase #SocialMedia via @Verge https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Twitter is literally going to do everything but an edit button. Worried about people changing tweets after the fact? 1) Put a time limit. 2) Mark the tweet as edited. 3) Include a button to view the original. Simple. https://twitter.com/...
“They also include possible options to limit who can see which tweets you've liked, to let people remove themselves from a conversation on Twitter, and to let people remove followers without outright blocking them.” I do like the option to remove yourself from a conversation http…
Great for privacy, so/so for OSINT. Specifically the ability to hide likes, which I know folks like @conspirator0 rely on to find bots. Hopefully they'll continue to publish the number of likes (which @TwitterDev still hasn't been added to the V2 API...) https://www.theverge.com/…
The right to be forgotten is a policy all platforms should adopt, and allow kids to delete photos their parents and grandparents posted before they were old enough to choose if they wanted that content out there. https://twitter.com/...
this isn't facebook. real-time tweets move markets and more. the edit transparency system facebook uses also doesn't work, because people don't care and won't spend the time to check out the edits and original content. twitter knows that, they've had years to watch and learn. htt…
In settings, there will be a YES/NO toggle switch under the question “Are you currently being considered to host a TV show and/or awards ceremony?” https://twitter.com/...
New twitter features being considered • Archive tweets - hide old tweets after 30, 60, 90 days or 1 yr • Removing followers - remove followers in one or two taps • Hiding tweets you've liked - show likes to: everyone, followers only, or select groups https://www.bloomberg.com/...
FINALLY. Serioiusly, finally. How has it taken Twitter THIS LONG to implement THIS OBVIOUS AND NEEDED feature? To recognize what kind of thing it is and what it is used for — both good and bad? https://www.theverge.com/...
The focus is on “social privacy,” or the idea that people want more control over their reputation and how they “appear” online. Internal research found that a lot of Twitter users don't even know if their account is public or private. Makes them more hesitant to tweet
Archiving your old tweets, hiding your liked tweets, forcing a follower unfollow, and leaving conversations are literally all I ever wanted... in addition to editing tweets. https://twitter.com/...