Twitter faces new trend of animal gore videos beneath hidden replies

polygon.com:

Twitter has a moderation problem that makes viewing any replies on the platform a risky gambit. As reported by NBC news, videos of violence against animals on the platform have become ubiquitous in the replies on popular tweets. Searching “cat” in the search bar, for instance, can auto-complete as “cat in a blender.” These videos also autoplay for users who have not disabled that feature in their settings.

Twitter has been struggling with moderation problems for a long time, which escalated with Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform and the subsequent mass layoffs. In 2022, users took advantage of the ability to purchase a verified checkmark via Twitter Blue to impersonate celebrities and brands. Twitter Blue made a series of changes after this initial wave, although impersonation is still an issue. Use of hate speech has also become much more prevalent on Twitter. These videos are especially common in the ‘hidden replies’ section, which is designed to make low quality or harassing comments less visible.

Hidden replies have gotten beyond out of hand They aren’t even funny anymore, it’s just genuinely horrific, awful shit that no human being should ever have to witness I’m being dead fucking serious fix this shit

Bro they gotta do something about animal abuse videos in the replies on here. It's getting worse.

While Twitter appears to have turned off autocomplete suggestions in the site’s search bar, these videos can still appear in replies — especially if the user has purchased Twitter blue, which boosts their replies to the top of the chain. In order to stop videos from showing previews, users can go to their Settings and Privacy menu, and select Accessibility, Display, and Languages.

First, check the ‘Motion’ menu and