Twitter steps up its fight against online abuse by suspending the account of a man who threatened a mosquito

Twitter isn't exactly renowned for its swift responses to online abuse, nor for its zero tolerance policy for threatening language. But in recent months, the social media platform has stepped up its fight to protect users, "taking action" against 10 times more abusive accounts compared to the previous year. In fact, apparently now making a threat against even a mosquito's life is enough to get you suspended from Twitter.

Recently, a Japanese user sent out this angry tweet after a mosquito bit him: "Bastard! Where do you get off biting me all over while I'm just trying to relax and watch TV? Die! (Actually you're already dead)."

Soon after, the user got a notice that his account "had been permanently frozen and could not be reactivated," Mashable reported. He quickly created another account to vent. "My account was permanently frozen after I said I killed mosquitoes ... this is a violation?" he tweeted at Twitter Japan.

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Mashable pointed out that it was probably the mistake of an artificial intelligence bot trained to pick up key words like "die" or "dead." But at least it's progress?