Comments on: An open letter to Twitter: stop the porn spam

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:10:33 +0000

Even though this is a really old post, I came across it while having the same exact problem and had to comment. I joined Twitter in March of 2011 and just recently, in the last two weeks or so I’ve been getting a bunch of pornographic spam followers on Twitter. It was like 5 or 6 at a time who I reported for spam and blocked, but they didn’t disappear right away like they usually do. So, I sent an email through the reporting form. They sent me one back explaining what I had to do which I’d already done and I sent them a reply saying I had done that and wanted these people off my followers list, because they were highly offensive. Only then, did they disappear. My account was fine for about a week and then it happened again a couple of days ago. I’m at the point now where I’ve protected my tweets so I can deny their request and it really pisses me off, because I shouldn’t have to do that. There are people I follow who don’t follow me back and won’t be able to see my tweets because of it, but it’s the only solution I have at the moment. I’m an elementary teacher and having porn on my followers list is a bad and inaccurate reflection of me when people look at my followers list. Twitter really needs to come up with a better method of weeding out spammers especially the pornographic ones, there needs to be a pre-screening process or something. I shouldn’t have to worry about being followed by these pornographic spammers when I’m not on Twitter for a day or so, having to check my account for it every day (even on days when I don’t have the desire or time to log on) and reporting/blocking them on a daily basis. Why should I have to protect my tweets just to not be subjected to these perverts?

By: Michelle V. Rafter

Michelle V. Rafter — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:52:50 +0000

That is terrible – I don’t know what to tell you; I still get the occasional porn spam on Twitter but not in the amount you describe. I block it all but still am not aware of anything else to do except keep complaining about it.

Michelle

By: Joanna Beamer

Joanna Beamer — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:28:22 +0000

I know this post is almost 3 years old, but I found it after doing a google search, “can you block porn/spam on twitter.” And I agree wholeheartedly with your points. I just joined twitter yesterday (Feb. 13, 2012) and so far I’ve gotten almost 30 porn/spam/x-rated followers. Though I have blocked them, I think there should be a way to filter these out before they even get to your inbox. If Twitter wants to allow this, they can find a way to let users to opt-out of receiving this type of contact, especially since it is very offensive to MANY. ~~TheBeamsss

By: Michelle V. Rafter

Michelle V. Rafter — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:15:26 +0000

Unfortunately, Twitter only gives you the option of blocking spam and X-rated content after the fact – something I do religiously. I’m not enough of a tech geek to know how easy it would be to block beforehand – seems like if they could do it they would have by now.

Michelle

By: TDLabs

TDLabs — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:42:18 +0000

@Michelle Rafter

Amen to that!

They should provide users with an option to block adult content and offensive content. Something like Facebook uses to unmark top stories. It’s not that complicated to achieve really.

By: Michelle V. Rafter

Michelle V. Rafter — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:34:05 +0000

Beth: Don’t just block them – report them to Twitter as spammers. You might also check Twitter’s blog and their network status update page to see if they’re seeing an unusually high level of this type of activity. You might also consider changing your password in case you don’t recognize one of those as a spammer and click on a link they share that could allow them to hack into your account.

Michelle

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:58:52 +0000

Since yesterday I’ve had over 60 followers come in. At first I was happy that I gained that many until I decided to check it out finding that they were all “adult pleasure” porn accounts. I also couldn’t help but notice some of them were the same faces. Also I noticed that they were all created on the 31st of August 2011. Of course I’ve blocked them all but it’s starting to annoy me that everytime I get a follower I have to go check them first. I shouldn’t have to do this and should feel safe about my followers without worrying about porn. If anyone knows how to stop this please let me know. Thank you. @BethCole95

By: Michelle V. Rafter

Michelle V. Rafter — Sun, 22 May 2011 23:23:22 +0000

To the best of my knowledge Twitter spammers are equal opportunity abusers, they don’t target one gender over another.

I don’t know what you mean by “capture your IP address.”

If you’re asking what financial motivation Twitter spammers have, it’s the same any any other spammers: do get you to do something that profits them, either by buying their product or inadvertently sharing your personal account information with them so they can then use it for their own financial gain.

You can avoid Twitter spam: 1. When spammers follow you block them. 2. Report them to Twitter. 3. Don’t share your email address in Twitter messages.

Michelle

By: Caroline Gerardo

Caroline Gerardo — Sun, 22 May 2011 19:00:32 +0000

I am new on Twitter. In the past I refrained for privacy reasons. Are women targeted more than men? The avatar is often a woman then the link is the same site. Does the site have some capability to capture your IP or what is the financial purpose?
I will continue to enjoy the creative influence that microblogging brings despite the rain.

By: Michelle V. Rafter

Michelle V. Rafter — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:38:05 +0000

Thanks for the comment. Keep making those kinds of comments to Twitter too. A year ago the company didn’t even have a “Report as spam” button, just an @reply that you had to report a porn spammer to. They’ve come along way since then, but I agree that there’s more that could be done.

Michelle