Facebook reportedly testing feature to allow users to censor content on their wall

As spotted by Jane Manchun Wong, notable software engineer with a knack for finding hidden features, Facebook appears to be planning on giving users the ability to censor their personal timelines.

Are there certain words you’d rather not see in your Facebook comments? Perhaps some topics are just not worth the time you’d spend getting worked up over them. Maybe you just find that poop emoji too ugly for your page. In any case, a feature allowing users to prevent certain words, phrases, or emojis from ever reaching their eyes is in the works…at least in regard to the comments on personal timelines.

Computer science student Jane Manchun Wong, known for reverse engineering popular apps to find out what’s in the works, shared a screenshot of how Facebook may integrate the feature in the platform interface:

Facebook is working on letting users to ban words/phrases/emojis from showing up on their personal timelines

 

Apparently, the text that a user chooses to ban on their profile will only be censored for them; posts with the particular word/phrase/emoji will not be prevented, nor will the items be censored for other users. As Facebook outlined:

“Add words, phrases, or emojis that you don’t want to appear in comments on your timeline. The people who post those comments and their friends will still be able to see them.”

Though it may just be a better idea to block users who post such things on your wall, this alternative could save you some time from dealing with excessive repeat offenses; Instagram currently filters comments in a similar way and then some. Likewise, on Instagram certain terms can be selected to be automatically hidden from the user, but the social network also goes a step further to automatically block bullying comments.

It’s important to note that what’s pictured on Wong’s profile is just a preview to a feature that’s still undergoing testing. The final release could be different.