To keep users safe, Twitter has developed a variety of parental control and privacy settings. Learn what they are and how you and your child can use them.
X is a social media platform where users can share short-form text, image and video updates. It was known as Twitter until Elon Musk acquired it in 2022 and rebranded the platform in 2023.
After taking Twitter over, the platform underwent a range of changes to support Musk’s vision of its purpose.
X limits work to support the platform’s strain. It puts limits on the direct messages, posts, related emails, follows and more.
While X has rules for users to follow, they also have ‘public-interest exceptions’, which allows some content on the site even if it goes against the X rules. X says “we recognise that sometimes it may be in the public interest to allow people to view posts that would otherwise violate our policies.”
If a user would like a verified account, they must pay a subscription fee. In the past, getting the ‘blue tick’ required users to go through a verification process.
X introduced new types of checkmarks and verification for users:
Other types of badges include Affiliation badges, which are linked to Verified Organisations, and Automated labels for accounts run by bots.
Users with professional accounts can also add their own labels to describe their company or organisation.
The Trust and Safety Council were in charge of policies against hate speech, child sexual exploitation and self-harm content. It no longer exists, and some language and content once banned is now allowed. These changes particularly surround transgender people and related language.
According to X, users must be 13-years-old or older to use the platform. If an underage user is banned, they can later restore their account when they meet the age minimum. However, they must meet other requirements.
On Google Play, X is rated Mature 17+ while the Apple App Store is rated 17+.
Twitter has a range of privacy and safety settings that parents can use to keep their teens safe on the platform. They give users the option to not only block and report users but also mute them.
Users can also limit who can see their tweets, who can contact them and who can tag them. They can also curate the type of content they see to match their interests and hide content that contains sensitive content.
Twitter introduced Safe Mode in September 2021. It allows users to automatically block any abusive or spammy accounts that contact them for a short period of time. At the end of the period, users receive information on which accounts were blocked.
Learn how to set up Twitter’s parental controls and privacy settings here.
People use Twitter to connect with others all over the world. Despite reports of people misusing the platform, there are also several benefits such as:
While users find many benefits in using the platform, there are some things for both adults and young users to be aware of.
Endless scrolling
Like many social media platforms, Twitter’s scrolling feature can encourage some users to stay on the platform too long. Twitter does not have parental controls or settings that can limit how much time a user spends scrolling through the tweets. As a result, young teens might find it difficult to manage their screen time.
Extreme views
Some have expressed concerns about the extremist views that are sometimes shared on Twitter. While the platform has features to block and report users who spread such views, they are not always effective with all languages. However, Twitter is continuing to develop these features.
Effects on mental health
With a lot of social media platforms, users can easily stumble upon inappropriate or dangerous content. This content can lead to mental health issues such as disordered eating or poor body image as well as extremist views and violent beliefs. Twitter’s privacy settings allows users to curate the content they see, which can limit this.
Twitter Circle is a way to limit who can see your or your child’s individual tweets. Anyone on Twitter can be added to a circle even if they don’t follow you. However, they will only see your tweets if they go to your profile.
If a member of your circle has a protected account, only their followers who are also in the Twitter Circle can see their replies. Users also cannot use the retweet icon for tweets in the circle. However, they can still screenshot these tweets.
If your child uses their Twitter Circle, make sure to talk to them about the proper uses for positive and healthy behaviours.
These steps have been re-created on the Android Twitter app.
To set up your circle, click on your profile image and select ‘Twitter Circle’. Then type the users you’d like to add and tap ‘add’. You can also tap ‘remove’ to take someone out of the circle.
To tweet to your circle: create a new tweet. By your profile image, tap ‘Everyone’ and select ‘Twitter Circle’. When you post the tweet, only those people will be able to see and respond to it.
Twitter’s parental controls or privacy settings are there for all users to stay safe. The platform aims to keep all users safe while browsing. Because of this, they are constantly developing safety and privacy tools like the ones below.
Safety Mode: This feature was released for some in Autumn 2021 and is still under development. It’s a fantastic autoblocking feature available for all users.
When enabled, abusive or spammy accounts are automatically blocked. The feature is temporary and can be set for a select number of days after which it will need to be set again. At the end of this autoblocking period, users can see which accounts were automatically blocked.
Some have expressed concern about Safety Mode’s effectiveness with some languages. As such, Twitter continues to develop this feature. It is not available in all locations but will see a global release in 2022.
Conversation controls: A staple in many parental controls, Twitter gives users the opportunity to control who communicates with them. Users can decide who is able to send them direct messages. They can set it so only people they follow can contact them this way. Additionally, users can set a filter to keep low-quality and potentially spammy messages from their inbox.
Further to the above, Twitter users can make use of the blocking features, which also limits who can contact them.
Muting: This feature lets users keep content from specific accounts from their timeline. They can also mute things beyond accounts like hashtags and conversations. Doing so manages the content on their timeline and reduces the notifications they receive.
Unlike blocking or unfollowing, muted users cannot see that you have muted them. This makes it a better alternative to avoid unintended conflict.
Learn more about Twitter’s privacy settings with our step-by-step guide.
See more resources and articles to help children stay safe online.
