While its parent company Twitter has struggled over the years with spam and abuse – without much success, let’s be honest – Periscope is aiming to go a different route with the introduction of a community-policed system where users can report and moderate comments as soon as they appear on the screen.
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Small groups of randomly selected viewers will then be polled, with votes determining whether they agree that comments are abusive or “spam”.
“One of the unique things about Periscope is that you’re often interacting with people you don’t know”, according to Beykpour. But that intimacy can also be a vulnerability if strangers post abusive comments. Meant to be transparent and community-driven, the new tool offers individuals the capacity to report inappropriate comments. “A particular comment may be extremely offensive in one broadcast but OK in another broadcast”.
Should a comment be deemed as abuse or spam by a jury of peers, the commenter in question will have their commenting rights temporarily suspended. For example, a comment that’s acceptable during a comedy-themed broadcast might not be acceptable in a more serious broadcast. If the same user is reported and convicted a second time in the same broadcast, he or she loses commenting privileges for the rest of the stream.
The sentence? First a 60-second suspension, then losing the ability to comment on the broadcast entirely for a second offence.
That being said, we understand that Twitter is not considering implementing this same system on its site, as tweets are not the same as Periscope comments – that is, they’re not real-time and ephemeral.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) announced a new reporting tool today to deal with junk and misuse in the Periscope broadcasts. Broadcasters can elect to disable comment moderation and viewers can opt out of voting from the settings menu.
The update is set to roll out this week on Android and iOS devices.
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The Twitter-owned live-streaming app on Tuesday unveiled a new moderation system that lets viewers report and vote on comments they consider to be spam or abuse. Periscope provides an immersive and interactive live viewing experience that allows anyone to explore the world through someone else’s eyes. The company has taken additional steps to reduce abuse over the past year, but many users say it is still too easy for trolls to harass and threaten them.
