Twitter says it is launching an experiment in Canada today that will allow users in this country to hide replies to tweets on the social-media platform.
The timing comes as social media platforms like Twitter have faced increasing government pressure to police their services better, particularly ahead of this fall’s federal election.
Users outside Canada will be able to see the feature and its use, but won’t be able to use it themselves.
The platform will indicate on a tweet any time a user decides to hide replies and will allow users to see what’s been hidden as away to dissuade brands or politicians from overusing the feature.
You asked for more control over your conversations, so starting next week we’re testing a new feature in Canada that will let you hide replies to your Tweets.
For transparency, viewers everywhere can see hidden replies by going to a new icon or the dropdown menu. pic.twitter.com/qM8osT7Eah
— Twitter Canada (@TwitterCanada) July 11, 2019
The company chose to test the new option in Canada before rolling it out elsewhere.
Twitter isn’t putting a timeline on when the experiment will end, but is keeping an eye on the timeline to the campaign’s kickoff.
The Canadian Press
