Harassment is a big issue for users on social networks. Efforts are made to ensure that people are not harassed online but still there’s a lot more to be done. Periscope is doing its bit to ensure that it can clamp down on harassment on its platform, and for this, it’s going to lean on its users who will be randomly selected for “flash juries” to check comments from other viewers and report the ones that are inappropriate.
Periscope is going to ask viewers who are watching live broadcasts to join flash juries so that they can evaluate the comments as they come in. Inappropriate ones can then be reported.
Flash juries are live now as the update for the app enabling them has been rolled out. Users are randomly selected to take part in the jury and they only need to vote with a single tap to report inappropriate comments.
If the majority votes against such a comment then it automatically disappears and the offending user is barred from commenting for one minute. If the some user commits the offense again they are banned from commenting for the remainder of the broadcast.
Abusive comments are sadly quite common on Periscope as they are on other online services. It’s good that Periscope is doing its bit to ensure that it can reduce harassment on its platform, it will make Periscope a safer environment for everybody.