Twitter has introduced a new way to deal with users who behave badly on the microblogging site – by putting people on the naughty step.

In the latest bid to remove abuse from its platform, Twitter is now handing out time outs to users who Tweet things that Twitter deems to be politically incorrect. There is speculation that the bans are handed out automatically based on blacklisted words, rather than reviewed by a member of staff following identification of a potentially offensive Tweet by an algorithm. Tweets from people who have received bans seem to suggest the former.

In a new section to its support site, Twitter explains that users accounts can be locked for violating the Twitter rules – namely the ‘abusive behaviour’ section – but does not point out if this is down to individual words.

Earlier this month, Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey and VP of engineering Ed Ho confirmed that the social network would be introducing new tools to fight abuse – admitting that Twitter had not been doing enough in the past to actively make the platform ‘a safer place’.