Twitter has begun testing a new soft-block tool – so how does it work?

Under the new feature, users will be able to remove a follower without fully blocking them.

It’s a part of a proposed suite of new privacy tools which will allow users to remove a person that follows them, without blocking them. The ‘remove follower’ feature is currently being tested on the web version of Twitter.

Twitter’s says that its new ‘remove follower feature’ is more of a remote ‘unfollow button.’

According to the Twitter post announcing the test, you can remove followers from the follower list on your profile page.

How it works:

The way the feature works is by clicking the three-dot menu next to a follower’s name, click “Remove follower,” and your tweets will no longer automatically show up in their timeline.

The new feature makes the standard way of blocking someone, different.

Under the feature the user will still have the ability to view your tweets and direct messaging you (and keeps you from doing the same with them).

But the social media giant says the new remove follower feature is more of a remote unfollow button, a gentler way to create some distance between you and someone else on Twitter.

Previously, to have someone unfollow you without their knowledge, you could do a “soft block,” which is when you manually blocked and unblocked someone.

Followers you remove then have to refollow you to see your tweets on their timeline, and if you have protected tweets (aka private tweets, only viewable by your followers), they’d need your approval to become a follower again.