Facebook is testing self-chosen words on timeline

Facebook is doing a limited test, hiding comments if they contain certain words that a user doesn’t want to see. For the time being, this only works on the timeline of users themselves and not on the news overview.

The option was featured with tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong, she tweets. That option was visible when she pressed ‘moderate comments’ on her own timeline next to a comment. The option then works in your own timeline, but not in the News Feed, she says. Facebook has not provided an explanation about the test on the timeline. The social network often does tests with new features. Most of them eventually become available and some don’t.

If users block words, they will no longer see comments with those words. People who have posted the comments, and their contacts, can still see those comments on the timeline. With the function, Facebook is taking a first step towards its own filter for users. For now, Facebook’s algorithm determines what people see in News Feed, with limited control for users themselves. Filters do work on, for example, Instagram, a subsidiary of Facebook, and on Twitter.