Twitter is developing a feature that allows you to control who can mention you, with the test version discovered by app researcher and engineer Jane Manchun Wong allowing you to completely block mentions. In a tweet that has since been deleted, Twitter privacy designer Dominic Camozzi said that the feature is in the works and asked the community for feedback.
Twitter is adding a mentions feature
Allowing Twitter users to limit who can @ them would be a significant change in how the platform operates, potentially preventing you from reaching out to a stranger across the platform to say hello or point something out to them. Of course, it could also help to prevent bullying or harassment campaigns and provide marginalised users with another tool for self-protection.
Wong’s screenshot shows controls that allow you to allow anyone to mention you (which is how Twitter currently works by default), limit mentions to only those you follow, or turn them off entirely. This isn’t the first time Twitter has allowed users to limit the number of people with whom they can interact on the platform. It launched a feature in 2020 that allows you to limit who can reply to a tweet to only people you follow or people you’ve mentioned in the tweet, and its recent Twitter Circles feature allows you to make certain tweets visible to only a select group of people.
Availability
Even though the feature was found, it’s not clear if or when it will be added to the platform.
