How to remove unwanted content from your 𝕏 feed

Table of Contents

𝕏, The Everything App
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It really does mean everything, doesn’t it?

If you’re encountering an abundance of content you don’t want to see—such as porn, gore, spam, or engagement bait on your 𝕏 feed, believe me, you’re not alone.

X post by user @IceSolst — 𝕏 post by user @IceSolst

Some may argue that since Elon Musk took over Twitter and rebranded it as 𝕏, the platform has gotten worse for many reasons, one of them being that censorship and moderation are far less prevalent, and people are free to say and post what they want. However, I would argue it’s a lot better for everyone that this is the case.

Though I don’t agree with everyone’s opinions or want to see stuff like porn and gore on my feed, I welcome the freedom of people being able to speak freely and post whatever content they want (within the law). However, this results in the issue we’re facing today: being recommended potentially harmful content.

How Does 𝕏 Decide What to Show You?
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To be clear, I’m not an insider at 𝕏, nor do I claim to know how their algorithms work. However, we can take some educated guesses about how the algorithm determines what type of content you may be interested in.

These factors likely include:

Advertising data
Time of day
Time spent on the app
Posts interacted with
Your following list
Likes
Bookmarks

Tricking the Algorithm
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Now that we have some ideas about what might influence the algorithm, we can try manipulating it to work better for us.

Playing It Safe Won’t Work
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Even if you’re like me and you block trackers and ads by default and keep interactions to a bare minimum, you’ll still get fed content you don’t want. You need to guide the algorithm to correctly place you in the perfect category that suits you.

It’s a scenario similar to how sometimes you do want to be tracked. A simple example: I use the Brave browser and Brave’s search engine by default for privacy, but if I want a quick result for the nearest shop that sells a product I’m looking for, I’ll switch to Google and allow it to access my location for better results.

What I Did
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Add Muted Words
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You may notice that some of the unwanted content is bot-like in nature, always containing the same words, phrases, or even emojis in the post.

If you add a muted word, you won’t see posts containing that word again.

How to add a muted word in the app

Tap your profile picture and select “Settings & Support,” then choose “Settings and privacy.”
In the settings menu, find and select “Privacy and safety,” then choose “Mute and block.”
Tap “Muted words” and then tap the + button in the corner.
Enter the word or phrase you want to mute and choose whether you want it hidden from your timeline, notifications, or both.
Select the muting duration: “Forever.”
Tap Save to apply the mute settings.

Block Accounts
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It may seem obvious, but block the accounts that are the worst offenders.

This not only gets rid of those accounts but may also influence the algorithm too to stop showing you content related to the blocked accounts.

How to block accounts in the app

Tap the 3-dot menu at the top right of a post.
Tap “Block @exampleaccount.”

Bonus tip: You can also do this for ads and sponsored posts on 𝕏 if you want to clean up your advertisements.

Use “Not Interested in This Post”
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This is probably what does most of the work. In theory, it should tell the algorithm that you don’t want to see this kind of content. It isn’t instant, and you’ll likely scroll down to see a similar post after just telling it you don’t want to see it, but it does help.

How to use "Not Interested in This Post"

Tap the 3-dot menu at the top right of a post you don’t want to see.
Tap “Not interested in this post.”

Actively Search
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Actively search for content you do want to see, even if it’s not at this specific moment in time. Search for something you’re interested in—a subject or topic in the category you want to see more of—and just scroll a few pages, pausing on a couple of posts. Even if you’re not interested in that specific post, pretend you are.

This should show the algorithm that you’re not only interested in this kind of content but that it’s actively grabbing your attention, making you stop scrolling and view the content, which is what the app wants you to do.

Rinse and Repeat
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Going forward, you’ll want to keep doing this for a few days. It’s a good habit to pick up to keep your feed clean.

While You Wait
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Until the algorithm has fully eradicated this unwanted content from your feed, you can browse the “Following” tab only. This will only show you posts from accounts you follow. Keeping your interactions away from unwanted content will prevent undoing some of the work you’ve done to get rid of it.

How Long Does It Take to Update?
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The algorithm took around one week to a month to settle in and update fully for me, but since then, it’s been a night-and-day comparison. Porn and gore have completely gone, and it’s now showing me new content that I actually enjoy and often find helpful.

Extra Steps
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Check Your Follower List

Check who you’re following to make sure there are no accounts posting this kind of content or interacting with it regularly. If you have hundreds of thousands of accounts that you follow, now may be the time to clean up.

If this task is too large, consider creating a new, fresh account and only following accounts you’re actually interested in. Alternatively, use a third-party service to mass unfollow accounts on your behalf.

Check Your History

Check your post history, like history, and bookmark history, and remove any interactions with content you’re no longer interested in.

Tips Going Forward
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Engagement Bait
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User posting lies for likes — Lieing to trick others to click the like button

Engagement bait is a tactic used by businesses and individuals to artificially inflate their popularity on social media, potentially leading to greater reach and more money.

Engagement bait can take many forms and be hard to spot. Because of this, it’s the hardest one to counter from appearing in your feed. It could be content deliberately posted to infuriate you, content asking for help with obvious questions, straight-up lies, misinformation, and more.

Now, we all need to make money somehow, and some accounts could be worse offenders depending on the kind of bait they’re posting. However, for me, even the slightest bait, which can seem harmless, is still annoying and a waste of my time. You’ll need to decide where you personally draw the line and unfollow or block accounts accordingly going forward.

Don’t Let It Sneak Back In
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Great! Your account is free and no longer polluted, but trust me—it will try to come back, and it will be subtle. You’ll need to be vigilant and counter the subtle attempts when they happen.

For example, if you suspect a post shown to you is out of the norm and slightly sexual in nature, and you don’t take action on it, it will likely just increase that kind of content being shown to you, and you’ll end up back at square one.

The same goes for gore. It will start with subtle videos of altercations, maybe a fight at a McDonald’s somewhere, or even a harmless prank where someone seems like they got hurt. You’ll want to take action on these too, as it can be a slippery slope.