Musk Disbands Twitter's Trust And Safety Council

Elon Musk has dissolved Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of 100 civil, human rights and other groups that the firm formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm, and other problems on the platform, Matt O’Brien and Barbara Ortutay reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Last week, three members quit in a statement posted on Twitter that said that “contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”

The council had been scheduled to meet with Twitter representatives Monday night. But Twitter informed the group via email that the council was being disbanded just before the meeting was to take place, several members said.

Patience Haggin of The Wall Street Journal reported seeing the same email, which, in effect, gives Musk complete idiosyncratic control of Twitter’s content.

The email said Twitter was “reevaluating how best to bring external insights” and the council is “not the best structure to do this.”

It added: “Our work to make Twitter a safe, informative place will be moving faster and more aggressively than ever before and we will continue to welcome your ideas going forward about how to achieve this goal.”

Last week, three members quit in a statement posted on Twitter that said that “contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”

They were then savaged online by Musk fanatics who echoed his wrong claim that past leaders did not do enough to stop child sexual exploitation on the platform.

The volunteer group provided expertise and guidance on how Twitter could better combat hate, harassment, and other harms but didn’t have any decision-making authority and didn’t review specific content disputes.

Shortly after buying Twitter for $44 billion in late October, Musk said he would form a new “content moderation council” to help make major decisions but later changed his mind.

Former Twitter employee Patricia Cartes, whose job it was to form the council in 2016, said Monday its dissolution “means there’s no more checks and balances.” She said Musk’s current practice is to survey his followers before making a policy change affecting how content gets moderated.

“He doesn’t really care as much about what experts think,” she said.

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