RTE star Ryan Tubridy has heaped praise on Twitter for their new feature aimed at tackling abuse on the website.
The social media platform has launched a new 'Safety Mode' which will attempt to help people to avoid hateful or negative comments from trolls.
And speaking on Thursday Tubridy, who has spoken candidly about his experience of receiving abuse on social media from trolls, lauded the tech company saying 'it's a great start'.
He told his listeners on his RTE Radio One show: "I'm often giving out about Twitter but today I'm not going to give out about Twitter because they're launching a feature they hope will help crack down on abuse and trolling.
"So today I say good luck to them with that and I really mean that. I think it's great that they're doing something positive against something so negative.
"It took you a while but at least you're trying. Twitter has become an abusive place. A home for trolls, a safe haven for the nasty people and that's a pity because there are so many good people on Twitter who are having a laugh and enjoying themselves and informing each other.
"Unfortunately the bad guys have arrived in an have wrecked it for a lot of people.
"Safety mode that's what they're calling it. It flags accounts using hateful remarks or those bombarding people with uninvited comments and can block them for seven days.
"And this feature will work automatically once enabled taking the burden off users to deal with unwelcome tweets.
"It's a great start good on them and here's hoping that will yield good results."
The Late Late Show host admitted he’d been left “a bit shaken” by a number of incidents where he received abuse in public in recent months.
One passerby shouted a homophobic slur calling him a “f****t” while another flew into a rage, hurling abuse and branded him a “paedophile”.
Ryan, who was walking with his daughter at the time, said: “I’m not fearful – but it has left me a bit shaken for sure.
“I do think I’ll be more careful where I go and whom I walk with. That is my reality for the next while until things settle down a bit.”
Tubs, 48, pointed to Covid-19 restrictions, “bleeding on the internet” and “Trumpism” as probable causes for rising aggression on the streets.
He revealed that he had been subjected to verbal abuse while out walking and minding his own business five times since the pandemic began.
He said: “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I don’t know what drives it.
“That is why I doubled back on that guy with the homophobic slur, because I think you have to try and engage, not just close an ear.
“The experience of people working in supermarkets, restaurants, hospitals, public spaces who are being shouted at and abused.
“They are kids in some cases, asking to see your Covid pass. These are grown men shouting in their faces.
“If I don’t stand up to these guys then... I was done passing this by.
“It wasn’t the first time, since the pandemic, it’s happened five times. For every one time it happens I’ll have 50 people saying the nicest things.
“[Last week] it happened twice on my own doorstep. These were kids watching the Late Late Toy Show ten years ago – what happened?”
