Social networking site Twitter has added the ability to filter NSFW tweets to its API, according to a new post on Twitter's developer website.
As it stands, users will be able to tag their own tweets as "possibly sensitive" as well as filter out any incoming tweets with the same tag. Additionally, anyone else will be able to tag your material as sensitive which will send a notification to Twitter for further review.
Sensitive tweets won't be removed from the site, but simply tagged with a warning to those who wish not to view such content.
The message to developers points out that only tweets containing a link will initiate the new field and as such, only the link itself may or may not be considered NSFW, not the actual content of the tweet. The feature is in the initial testing phase where the API cannot be relied upon for accuracy.
What is classified as "sensitive material" will likely vary from one user to the next. Twitter's Media Policy suggests labeling any content containing nudity, violence, or medical procedures as sensitive. The company points out that they do not mediate content, however the service may not be used for any unlawful purpose. Furthermore, any uploaded images that are determined to be illegal will be removed and your account will be suspended.
Hopefully this will lead to a similar API that can be used to tag spam posts. Twitter already has a spam profile reporting system in place but it seemingly does little to combat the ongoing problem.