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| Musk plans to launch a feature to know the blocked Twitter accounts in secret |
Twitter CEO Elon Musk said on Friday that the platform is developing a new software update intended to notify users whose accounts are subject to a "hacking ban."
According to Musk, the new feature will show users why their accounts have been suspended and allow them to request that the suspension be lifted.
It should be noted that the incognito ban is a term used for actions applied to user accounts where Twitter attempts to make them more difficult to find or make their messages invisible to other users of the platform or even followers.
Musk announced the new feature in a tweet following the second part of a "Twitter Profile" posted by conservative commentator Barry Weiss, which focused on "secret Twitter blacklists." Explains how Twitter has blocked several prominent conservative accounts from appearing.
Musk didn't say when the intrusion ban would take effect, but in a tweet he posted on Thursday, "Twitter is working on a software update that shows the actual status of your account so you can clearly tell if the account has been hidden and what the call is for."
In the second part of the Twitter profile, Vice claims that "Twitter staff teams create blacklists, block spam, and proactively limit visibility to entire accounts and even news topics, all in secret and without notifying users."
It should be noted that the term stealth ban first appeared in 2018 when reports surfaced that Twitter was secretly banning GOP accounts, a claim that Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey disputed.
The new feature comes as Musk describes himself as enjoying "absolute freedom of expression," especially after restoring nearly 12,000 accounts that were suspended or banned prior to the company's purchase in late October.
The new feature also follows Instagram announcing an expansion of the Account Status Center to let users with business accounts (such as businesses and content creators) know if their accounts are hidden from other users.