Handy if NSFW content is the exception and not the rule
Twitter is known for being a little looser than other platforms when it comes to the types of content that you can post. Social networks like Facebook and Instagram routinely take down nudity, violence, gore, and other kinds of NSFW content, whereas that’s mostly allowed on Twitter with certain exceptions. But despite its best efforts to prevent it, sometimes you can come across this sensitive media without meaning to. If you’re fond of posting this kind of content on the platform, the social network will now make it easier for you to mark it as such.
Twitter has announced that you can now place content warnings over individual photos and videos. The previous system required you to mark your whole account as “sensitive” if you routinely posted NSFW content, hiding all content you share behind a warning that needs to be acknowledged by the viewer before seeing it. And if you didn’t, Twitter might force that change on your account on its own.
This new system will now allow you label sensitive content in a much more granular manner without needing to flag your entire Twitter account. This feature is now available on the web, Android, and iOS.
What the new content warning options look like on the web.
To add a content warning to a potentially upsetting or NSFW photo or video, tap a new flag icon while editing the attached media and select the options required. This places the media behind a warning, and users who wish to see it can tap on “Show” to view it, adding an extra step to access it. There are three categories for media — nudity, violence, and a broader, catch-all “sensitive” category.
Note that you can apply multiple categories, but if you have more than one piece of media attached to a tweet and only one tagged, all still end up being covered by the disclaimer.
This system isn’t perfect in that it still relies on people manually attaching these warnings to their content, meaning that you still might not be spared from seeing unsolicited “stuff” on your timeline every once in a while. But now, considerate Twitter users can spare others from occasionally sensitive content without having to hide their entire profile behind a “sensitive” warning label.
This change should already be live on the web version, and if you’re not seeing it on your Android phone yet, make sure you have the latest version of the app installed.
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