Slack Reverses Course on Feature That Could Be Used to Harass
- Company’s effort to replace email posed harassment danger
- Slack taking steps to prevent abuse of invites to connect
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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Slack Technologies Inc. rolled out a new feature Wednesday designed to build out its email replacement service called Slack Connect, but had to backtrack almost immediately after backlash over its potential for abuse.
The new Slack Connect DM (direct messaging) functionality allowed paid subscribers to invite any other Slack user to a private conversation, accompanying their invite with a customizable message. The problem that many pointed out on social media was that those messages could be used to direct harassment at strangers online, without an easy option to block them because the invites come from a generic Slack address.