‘Twitter wants to prevent abuse by asking for telephone numbers’

Twitter wants to take tougher measures against trolls. The company wants to try to use phone numbers to prevent banned users, who intimidate other users, from creating new accounts.

Users who are temporarily banned because other Twitter users are complaining about them should then enter their phone number, The Verge reports. That way, users who repeatedly create new accounts to harass someone could be permanently banned, based on his or her email address.

It is one of the measures that Twitter wants to take to prevent abuse, although the measure is not watertight: after all, users can create a new account after their first, temporary ban. Twitter does not ask for a user’s phone number when creating an account.

in addition makes Twitter also makes it possible for ‘bystanders’ to report someone for abuse. Until now, only the victim could. Twitter wants to take tougher action against abuse on its service. Earlier, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said in internal documents that the company “sucks” when dealing with abuse.