Topline
Twitter on Monday disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, a group of around 100 independent activists, academics and civic leaders that advised the company on tackling hate speech and other harmful content on the platform, a move that comes amid continued concerns about the state of content moderation on the social media platform.
File Photo – A sign at Twitter headquarters is shown in San Francisco.
Key Facts
Members were informed about the decision in an email from Twitter which said the company is “reevaluating how best to bring external insights into our product and policy development work.”
Stating that the council was “not the best structure” for the company to receive external advice the email adds that Twitter is “moving faster and more aggressively” to make itself a “safe, informative place.”
Twitter has also taken down the page on its site about the council and its work—the link now redirects to an error message.
According to the Washington Post, the email was sent out to the council members just hours before they were expected to meet Twitter executives over a video call to discuss recent issues at the platform.
Earlier on Monday, the company relaunched its Twitter Blue subscription service that offers a verification badge to users who pay an $8 monthly fee with a few tweaks to help limit the creation of “verified” impersonator accounts.
In another major product change, several verified business accounts on Twitter started displaying gold verified badges which sets them apart from other verified users—a move that is in response to some Twitter Blue subscribers sowing chaos last month by impersonating major brands and companies.
News Peg
The decision to dismantle the Trust and Safety Council is the latest in a series of moves by Twitter new CEO Elon Musk to eliminate structures and rules put in place at the company to combat hate speech and bad behavior on the platform. The move is likely to raise further concerns about the company’s commitment to content moderation amid reports of a sharp rise in hate speech on the platform. Musk himself has leveraged the platform to lash out at people with his most recent targets including the White House’s top infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci and Twitter’s former Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth. On Monday, death threats forced Roth and his family to leave their home after Musk tried to falsely insinuate that Roth was supportive of pedophilia. Musk’s attack came weeks after Roth—who survived Musk’s initial purge of top executives and briefly gained his trust—quit the company and publicly criticized the billionaire’s actions at Twitter.
Forbes Valuation
With a total net worth of $181.3 billion according to Forbes’ estimates Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest man, dropping behind Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) CEO and co-founder Bernard Arnault.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/12/13/twitter-shuts-down-its-trust-and-safety-council-heres-what-you-need-to-know/