Twitter wants to give people more control over who follows them without having to block accounts.
The tech giant is currently testing a new feature on their platform that allows users to simply remove a person as a follower, widely viewed as a “soft block”.
This means public accounts that have been removed can still view tweets manually on someone's profile, but the tweets will no longer appear on their timeline.
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The idea is designed to be less brutal than an outright block, which would prevent the account from seeing anything from the user's profile.
Twitter said the option is being explored as a possible way to make it “easier to be the curator of your own followers list”.
Previously, users had to get around undesired followers by blocking then unblocking an account to remove them as a follower.
The move follows another feature recently unveiled which allows people to temporarily block accounts that are sending them abuse.
With Safety Mode turned on, Twitter will block accounts and content for seven days if found to be using harmful language or sending repetitive, unwelcome replies.
The announcement comes as the company, and wider social media, continues to face questions over how to better protect users from online abuse following a number of high-profile incidents, including the targeting of black England footballers following the events of Euro 2020.
