Now everyone can ‘unmention’ themselves from Twitter threads

Twitter is opening its conversation-leaving feature to everyone. Now, all Twitter users will be able to use the service’s “unmention” feature, the company announced.

Twitter describes “unmention” as the ability to leave an unwanted conversation on the platform. When used, it unlinks the user’s handle from the Twitter thread, so they will no longer be tagged in future tweets, and others won’t be able to reply to them from the same thread. Though it won’t prevent others from continuing to jump into the conversation, it will at least shield the person’s replies and notifications.

The feature has been in the works for more than a year. Twitter first teased the idea last summer, saying it was meant to prevent the kind of “unwanted attention” that can often lead to harassment. It started testing it in April, but it was limited to a small group of users on the web only. Now, with the update, anyone will be able to remove themselves from a thread regardless of whether they are using Twitter’s apps or website.

The update is the latest way Twitter has tried to give users more ways to control how people can interact with them, particularly at moments when they may be more susceptible to harassment. The service has also added reply-limiting features, and has been testing a “safety mode,” which can automatically block problematic accounts.