This feature is likely still in the early stages of development, so we can’t tell when it will be available to the public. But Twitter may soon begin its beta testing. Shortly after Wong posted her findings, Twitter privacy designer Dominic Camozzi confirmed that the feature is in the works (via The Verge). They asked for user feedback on it, hinting at an imminent public beta release. However, Camozzi immediately deleted the tweet. This suggests they jumped the gun and prematurely commented on an in-development feature. Either way, Twitter seems to be preparing another much-need privacy feature on its platform. Currently, anyone can mention you in a tweet regardless of whether you follow them or have interacted with them on the platform before. This may lead to unwanted inclusion in public conversations or even harassment or bullying campaigns. The new setting will give you the ability to avoid such mentions and further safeguard your privacy on Twitter. We will let you know when this feature rolls out publicly.
Twitter will let you block mention in tweets from unknown people
Twitter is working on the ability to block mentions just months after it rolled out “Unmention” for everyone. The latter feature lets you pull yourself out of public conversations that you were added to before. Once you exit it, people will not be able to mention you in that thread again and you will no longer receive notifications from it. The upcoming feature will save you from the trouble of “unmentioning” too, as you’ll be able to block mentions from unknown people. This is the latest feature to narrow down interaction on Twitter. You can already control who can reply to your tweets: people you follow, people you’ve mentioned in the tweet, or everyone. It saves you from people bothering you with unwanted replies. Twitter Circle, meanwhile, lets you limit your tweets to a selected group of people. You can add up to 150 people to your Circle.
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) October 13, 2022