Bruce Daisley, head of website in Europe, says it will expose the worst offenders by encouraging people to share lists of blocked users
By Tom Morgan
9:24AM GMT 26 Dec 2015
Twitter is giving its users new powers to block internet trolls amid claims abusive behaviour is hampering the social media site from catching up with Facebook.
Bruce Daisley, the head of Twitter in Europe, said the site would give its 320 millions users new tools to protect them from trolls and expose the worst offenders by encouraging people to share lists of blocked users.
Twitter, which celebrates its tenth birthday next year, is worth more than £22 billion but is lagging behind Facebook, which has more than one billion users and a valuation of £167 billion.
In February Dick Costolo, Twitter’s former chief executive, admitted in an internal email that the company “sucked” at dealing with trolls.
But Mr Daisley now says the site has cracked down on nuisance users who hurl extreme abuse at those they disagree with. Measures include contacting suspected trolls to tell them “what you are doing here exists in the real world” and encouraging people to publish lists of users they have blocked.