In the time-honoured tradition of the school playground, Twitter is testing a virtual time out corner for naughty users.

#Badboys

Twitter has begun suspending users suspected of potentially abusive behaviour for 12 hours. During the tweeting time out, only followers can view the rogue user's posts and activity.

After half a day the ban is lifted and the chastised user is let back into the fold.

Signals

Twitter apparently scans accounts for a combination of offensive keywords and patterns of abusive behaviour. So you might still be able to engage in occasional salty language without attracting Twitter's ire.

The update comes as Twitter looks for new ways to tackle its ongoing abusive behaviour and troll problem.

No word yet on whether the new time out rules could apply to @realDonaldTrump.