Twitter unveils improved tools to report harassment

Changes include modifications designed to speed up Twitter's response

Twitter announced on Tuesday improvements to simplify the way users report abuse and harassment on the social media platform.

The company said it will now require less information from users flagging inappropriate content and that it will be easier to submit tweets and accounts for review, even when wrongful behaviour is simply observed and not received directly.

"We are nowhere near being done making changes in this area," Shreyas Doshi, director of product management and user safety said in a message posted on Twitter's website.

"In the coming months, you can expect to see additional user controls, further improvements to reporting and new enforcement procedures for abusive accounts."

Users also will be able to view all the accounts they have blocked in a new blocked accounts page accessible from the settings menu on Twitter.

The changes, which will be rolled out to all users in the next few weeks, include modifications designed to speed up Twitter's response by better streamlining and prioritising reports of abusive content, technology news website The Verge reported.

A way to block multiple accounts at once also appears to be in the works, according to The Verge.

Twitter has faced criticism in the past over a response to harassment and abuse deemed too lax by many of its users.

In December last year, the company was forced to nix a change to its "block" feature under criticism that the new policy still allowed blocked users to interact with those who had blocked them.

Earlier this year, a survey by online advocacy groups found that nearly half of Americans under the age of 35 have been bullied, harassed or threatened online.

Twenty-four percent of the people surveyed said the harassment happened on Twitter.