Testing: Twitter introduces uncropped display of single-image Tweets

Twitter will be testing variations of how any media in a Tweet is displayed, starting with the tryouts of single-image Tweets with an uncropped display.

The tests by Twitter are currently live on Android and iOS. The appearance of images for single-image Tweets will be the same in the composer and the Twitter timeline, in the full-size and uncropped display.

Twitter image-cropping algorithms have been susceptive to detest by several users, they have often complained about the cropping system displaying parts of the image that are irrelevant to the Tweet's context, and an uncropped display has been desired for a while now.

In October 2020, the system was also accused of racial bias. The conversation grew when various users posted an experiment of a single image with people from two different racial groups, and the Tweets only displaying the white folks.

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This also led to a test conducted by Twitter, to reviewing the test for bias in the systems and improving how images are displayed. The platform claimed their analysis hasn’t shown racial or gender bias, but they recognize the way they automatically crop photos means there is a potential for harm.

Since then, Twitter has been exploring different options to see what will work best across the wide range of images. The new test and forthcoming variations are an attempt to improve the experience and address user concerns around the display of images in Tweets.

Additionally, the platform is also developing options to upload and view images in higher resolution. Users in the test will be able to upload and view images in 4K on Android and iOS, by updating high-quality image preferences in 'Data usage' settings.