Twitter Execs: We Can't Protect Users Under Musk

Twitter insiders have told the BBC that the company is no longer able to protect users from trolling, state-co-ordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation following lay-offs and changes under owner Elon Musk, Marianna Spring reported for BBC News.

Photo Insert: Current and former employees of the company relayed that features intended to protect Twitter users from trolling and harassment are proving difficult to maintain.

Exclusive academic data plus testimony from Twitter users backs up their allegations, suggesting hate is thriving under Musk's leadership, with trolls emboldened, harassment intensifying, and a spike in accounts following misogynistic and abusive profiles.

Current and former employees of the company tell BBC Panorama that features intended to protect Twitter users from trolling and harassment are proving difficult to maintain, amid what they describe as a chaotic working environment in which Musk is shadowed by bodyguards all the time.

The former head of content design says everyone on her team - which created safety measures such as nudge buttons - has been sacked. She later resigned. Internal research by Twitter suggests those safety measures reduced trolling by 60%.

An engineer working for Twitter told me "nobody's taking care" of this type of work now, likening the platform to a building that seems fine from the outside, but inside is "on fire."

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