Twitter Officially Rolls Out ‘Hide Replies’ Feature in the US

Twitter is giving users in the US the ability to hide replies to their own tweets.

As the company phrases it, this feature is being rolled out to “give people more control over the conversations they start.”

Twitter was spotted testing the ability to hide replies as far back as March. It received a fair amount of criticism at the time, with people claiming it was a form of censorship.

Nonetheless, Twitter pushed forward with its plans to roll out the ‘hide replies’ feature. In April, the company announced it would be rolled out in June.

June came and went with still no sign of users gaining the abilities to hide replies. It wasn’t until this week that Twitter announced ‘hide replies’ is now rolling out to users in the US and Japan.

Positive Results from Twitter’s Initial Test

Twitter highlights what was learned from its testing of ‘hide replies’:

  • People mostly hide replies that they think are irrelevant, abusive or unintelligible.
  • People were more likely to reconsider their interactions when their tweet was hidden.
  • 27% of people who had their tweets hidden said they would reconsider how they interact with others in the future.

Ultimately, the feature was found to be useful in helping people have better conversations. It was also found to be effective when used against tweets that deterred from the user’s original intent.

It should be noted that when users hide replies they’re not fully deleted. Other users viewing the tweet thread will have the option to manually reveal hidden replies.

Here’s an example of what it looks like:

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