Twitter

What are Tweet media settings?

Your Tweet media settings allow you to label your media for the appropriate viewers, and select whose media will display on your Twitter homepage. Remember that your audience is potentially made up of millions of people, and that not all media is suitable for everyone. 

Who should mark their media as containing sensitive content?

If you upload Tweet media that might be considered sensitive content such as nudity, violence, or medical procedures, you should consider applying the account setting “Mark my media as containing sensitive content” by following the instructions below. 

If another user notices that you have not marked your media appropriately, that user may flag your image or video for review. To avoid this, if you plan to often upload possibly sensitive content, check the box next to "Mark my media as containing possibly sensitive content" in your account settings page. To learn more about what happens if your image or video is reported, please review the Twitter Media Policy page. 

How to mark your media as containing sensitive content:

1. Sign in to your Twitter account.
2. Go to your account settings page and locate the Tweet Media section.
3. Click the box next to "Mark my media as containing sensitive content."
4. Save your settings at the bottom of the page.

How will others see media that has been marked as sensitive?

When you mark your Tweets as containing media that might be sensitive, users will be required to click through a warning message before media is displayed to them. For users who have opted in to seeing possibly sensitive media, they will see your images without a warning.

Users can opt in to view any sensitive media by default. These settings can be selected in your account settings Tweet media section as well.

How to control whose media you see in Tweets:

You can choose to view media in Tweets that may contain sensitive content without a warning. If you are concerned about viewing sensitive content, you should keep your default settings. Your default settings will help by providing warnings before seeing content that has been marked as possibly sensitive.

1. Log in to Twitter and go to your account settings.
2. Check the boxes to display media from people you don't follow, and/or to display sensitive content. 
3. Save your settings at the bottom of the page.

How to flag and report images and videos in Tweets:

If you feel an image or video should be brought to the attention of the Twitter team for review, please report the media. You can do this by following the instructions in this article.

For more information, read the Twitter Media Policy.

One of the best ways to prevent a user from contacting you is to block them so you can't see what they put and they can't direct tweets to your account.

To block a Twitter user:

1. Go to the profile page of the person you wish to block.
2. Click or tap the gear icon on their profile page. This brings up a drop-down actions menu.
3. Select Block or Report from the options listed.
4. Select a reason for the block and click Block to confirm.

Blocked users cannot:

• Add your Twitter account to their lists.
• Have their @replies or mentions show in your mentions tab (although these Tweets may still appear in search).
• Follow you.
• See your profile picture on their profile page or in their timeline.
• Tag you in a photo.

To unblock a Twitter user:

1. Visit the blocked account's profile on Twitter.
2. Click or tap the gear icon on their profile page. This brings up a drop-down actions menu.
3. Select Unblock.

Unfollowing and reporting accounts as spam:

In addition to blocking users, you can also unfollow users, mute users or report accounts as spam. Please read those help pages for more information on unfollowing and reporting spam.

When you sign up for Twitter, you can choose to keep your Tweets public or protect your Tweets. Read more about the difference between public and protected Tweets here.

How to protect your Tweets:

1. Go to your Security and privacy settings.
2. Scroll down to the Tweet privacy section and check the box next to Protect my Tweets.
3. Click the blue Save button at the bottom of the page. You will be prompted to enter your password to confirm the change.

Note: When you navigate to your homepage after protecting your Tweets, you'll see a notice reminding you that your Tweets are now protected. The Protect my Tweets box will appear as checked in your account settings.

How to unprotect your Tweets:

• You can always make your Tweets public by unchecking the Tweet privacy option (shown above) in your Security and privacy settings and then saving your changes.
• Be sure to review your pending follower requests before making your Tweets public. Any requests left pending will not be accepted automatically. If left pending, those users will need to follow you again.
• Please know that unprotecting your Tweets will cause any previously protected Tweets to be made public.

Difference between public and protected Tweets?

• When you sign up for Twitter, you have the option to keep your Tweets public (the default account setting) or to protect your Tweets. 
• Accounts with protected Tweets require manual approval of each and every person who may view that account's Tweets. 

Who can see my Tweets?

• Public Tweets (the default setting) are visible to anyone, whether or not they have a Twitter account.
• Protected Tweets may only be visible to your approved Twitter followers.

Note: If you at one time had public Tweets, those Tweets will no longer be public or appear in public Twitter Search results; your Tweets will only be viewable and searchable for yourself and your approved followers. Unprotecting your Tweets will cause any previously protected Tweets to be made public.

Why would I protect my Tweets?

If you want to control who sees your updates, you may choose to protect your Tweets. You can always change your mind and make them public later.

When you protect your Tweets, the following restrictions are put in place:

• People will have to request to follow you; each follow request will need approval. Learn more.
• Your Tweets will only be visible to users you've approved.
• Other users will not be able to retweet your Tweets. Learn more.
• Protected Tweets will not appear in Google search; protected Tweets will only be searchable on Twitter by the account holder and approved followers.
• @Replies you send to people who aren't following you will not be seen by those users (because you have not given them permission to see your Tweets).
• You cannot share permanent links to your Tweets with anyone other than your approved followers.

Allowing others to find you by email address or phone number

Your email address and phone number

Often the best connections on Twitter are with people you know and care about. In order to help you make those connections, we use information like your email address and/or phone number to make your account discoverable to others. By default your account settings allow this, but you can adjust them at any time (read below).

How would others find me by my email address or phone number?

People may find your account through the Find friends tab of the Discover page after they've uploaded their contacts to Twitter, in the Who to follow tab of the Discover page as a suggested account to follow, or on third-party services that have integrated Twitter. For example, when people receive email from you on email services that have integrated Twitter, they may see your Twitter profile and, if they’re already following you on Twitter, your most recent Tweets. This helps people you know keep in touch better with what you care about on Twitter.

To turn off the setting that lets others find you by your email address or phone number:

On the web:

1. Log in to twitter.com and navigate to your Security and privacy settings page.
2. Next to the Discoverability section, you’ll see the following options:
   • Let others find me by my email address
   • Let others find me by my phone number
3. Uncheck one or both options.
4. Click Save changes.

Using Twitter for iOS:

1. From the Me tab, tap the gear icon
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap the account you’d like to adjust.
4. Under Privacy, you can adjust your settings to Let others find me by my email address and Let others find me by my phone number.

Using Twitter for Android:

1. Tap the overflow icon
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap the account you’d like to adjust.
4. Under Other, you can adjust your settings to allow others to Find by email or Find by phone.