This Monday (12), Twitter decided to dissolve its Trust and Safety Council, founded in 2016. The decision was communicated to the group by email, less than an hour before its members met with representatives of Twitter for a online meeting.
Created by the platform to ensure that people could continue to express themselves freely and safely on the social network, the Trust and Security Council it was currently made up of more than 100 organizations and experts.
An external consultation group, it debated a wide range of controversial issues on the social network, ranging from harassment, intimidation, suicide and child exploitation, to hate speech. With a mere orientation, their evaluations could or could not be accepted by the company, since the board had no authority to make decisions on the platform.
According to the Associated Presswho spoke with board members who preferred not to be identified for fear of reprisals, the dissolution announcement was sent only under the generic signature of “Twitter”.
In the message, the company explained that it was reassessing the best way to bring external information to its decisions, since it believed that the board was not the best structure for this.
“Our work to make Twitter a safe and informative place will be faster and more aggressive than ever, and we will continue to welcome your ideas going forward on how to achieve this goal.”stated an excerpt from the email sent.
Elon Musk and Council engaged in public friction
Despite being abrupt, the decision to dissolve the board was just the tip of the iceberg of a troubled situation that had been unfolding between its members and Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter. Since October, when the tycoon bought the social network, some cracks could already be seen in the group’s relationship with the businessman.
The first of these was the statement given by Musk, as soon as he took the new position, that he wanted to form a new moderation council, to the detriment of what already existed on the platform.
Despite having regretted the idea shortly afterwards, the billionaire continued to take some controversial actions on the platform that collided with the idea of security defended by the council. One of them, for example, was to allow the return to Twitter of figures banned from the social network, such as former US president Donald Trump and neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin.
The last straw in the situation, however, occurred last Thursday, when after scheduling the fateful meeting on Monday, in which there was the promise of an open conversation, three important members of the board decided to leave the group.
In an open letter released on Twitter, the trio stated that contrary to what Musk said, the safety and well-being of users of the social network were threatened. A statement promptly answered by the CEO, who hit back at those involved, criticizing them for allegedly not doing anything to prevent child sexual exploitation on the platform in previous administrations.
Musk’s remarks sparked outrage among some users, who launched a series of cyber attacks on former board members.
In response, still on Monday, the remaining members manifested themselves through an email sent to Twitter, where they asked Musk to stop misrepresenting the role that the consultation group had.
The request, added to all the confusion, does not seem to have pleased the head of the social network, who a few hours later officially dissolved the council.
With information: HuffPost
https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/2022/12/13/elon-musk-desmancha-conselho-de-confianca-e-seguranca-do-twitter/