Twitter announces crackdown on abuse with new filter and tighter rules

Social network moves to ban indirect threats of violence and introduces temporary suspensions for accounts that fall foul of its policies

Twitter has announced a crackdown on abuse on its network, unveiling a new filter designed to automatically prevent users from seeing threatening messages.

Every user's notifications - the timeline of messages directed at them - will be filtered for the first time, in an effort to prevent people from being confronted by abusive messages.