Twitter tests restricting replies to tweets to cut down on harassment

What you need to know

• Twitter is testing a new feature that lets you choose who can reply to the tweet you're composing.
• You'll have three permission options to choose from, including only the people you @mention.
• Others will still be able to view and like your tweets, but not reply.

Twitter has a problem with harassment and unwanted replies, and it's looking to alleviate that with a new feature it's testing that allows you to limit who's able to reply to your tweets. Initially rolling out to a small number of users globally, Twitter is adding a permissions option to the tweet composition screen, with three options to choose from.

The default setting will allow anyone to reply to your tweet, just as has always been the case on Twitter, but you can now choose to allow only the people you follow to reply, or even just the people you @mention in your tweet. This works on a per-tweet basis, rather than applying to all tweets on your profile.

Users excluded from your permissions will still be able to view, like, and retweet your tweets, but they won't be able to respond. It's unclear whether users will be able to set their own permissions for their replies to your initial tweet at this time.