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Twitter on Monday night abruptly disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, the latest sign that Elon Musk is dismantling years of work and institutions built to make the social network safer and more civil.
Members of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Board received an email with the subject line, “Thank you,” informing them that the board was no longer “the best structure” to provide “external information about our development work products and policies”.
The email dissolution came less than an hour before board members were expected to meet with Twitter executives via Zoom to discuss recent events, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. anonymity to discuss plans.
Dozens of civil rights leaders, academics and advocates from around the world had volunteered their time for years to help improve security on the platform.
“We are grateful for your commitment, advice and collaboration over the past few years and wish you every success in the future,” said the email, which was simply signed “Twitter.”
In less than two months, Musk has undone years of investment in trust and security at Twitter, laying off key parts of the workforce and bringing back previously suspended accounts. As the body is discovered, Musk is tightening decisions about the future of content moderation on Twitter, with less input from outside experts.
The move is just throwing away “years of institutional memory that we’ve brought to the council” at the company, said one council member, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern about harassment on the platform. “Getting outside experts and advocates looking at your services makes you smarter.”
The Trust and Safety Council was disbanded after Musk himself proposed the creation of a content moderation board that would have weighed in on key content moderation decisions, but later appeared to change his mind about the introduction of this body.
Many members were already on the verge of resigning, said Larry Magid, executive director of ConnectSafely, a Silicon Valley nonprofit that advises consumers on children’s Internet use.
“By disbanding, they fired us instead of quitting,” he said. “Elon doesn’t want criticism, and it really doesn’t want the kind of advice you’d probably get from a security advisory board, which would probably tell it to rehire some of the staff it got rid of and reinstate some of the rules of which he got rid of and turned the company in another direction from where it turns it”.
Twitter first formed the Trust and Safety Council in 2016 as the social network came under increased scrutiny for its role in amplifying hate, terrorism, child exploitation and other problematic content online. The council convened a wide range of civil society groups, think tanks and even some of Silicon Valley’s leading critics. Twitter executives would regularly brief the board on new products in development and policies.
“I don’t understand the logic of doing this when many of these relationships were fought so hard to develop,” said another member, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the council’s dissolution.
Twitter’s lawyer has long weighed security and free speech. Then Musk called her.
Twitter told Trust and Safety members that its “regional points of contact will remain the best people to contact to escalate concerns”. However, Twitter’s trust and security and policy teams have been decimated by recent layoffs, as well as employee departures following an ultimatum from Musk.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which was a board member, “will be watching as they restructure,” said Gavin Portnoy, the center’s vice president.
“For now, we will continue to encourage reporting to CyberTipline and look forward to continuing to have a seat at the table to address children’s safety on Twitter,” he said.
Last week, three members of the Trust and Safety Council resigned, warning that “the safety and well-being of Twitter users is in decline.”
Musk responded to responses to his tweet announcing his resignation, writing, “It’s a crime that they refused to take action against child exploitation for years!”
Jack Dorsey, the company’s former CEO, hit back at Musk, calling the claim “false.” However, Musk’s comment sparked a wave of threats and harassment of board members who left the board, as well as some who stayed.
The Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit organization that was a board member and has received funding from tech companies, said in a statement that it was “appalled by the irresponsible actions of Twitter management to spreading misinformation about the Board, which has put Board members at risk. and eroded any semblance of confidence in the company.”
The board’s treatment of Musk reflected a wave of attacks that engulfed a former top executive at the company over the weekend.
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, and his family were forced out of their home after Elon Musk’s tweets misrepresented Roth’s academic writings on sexual activity and children. The online mob also sent threats to people Roth had responded to on Twitter, forcing some of Roth’s family and friends to delete their Twitter accounts, according to a person familiar with Roth’s situation who spoke on condition of anonymity anonymously out of concern for Roth’s safety.
Musk’s supporters also directed harassment at professors who reviewed the dissertation Roth wrote in 2016, as well as at his graduate school, the University of Pennsylvania, the person said. The university did not respond to a request for comment.
As Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Roth was involved in many of the platform’s decisions about which posts to remove and which accounts to suspend. His communications with other Twitter officials have been released in recent days as part of what Musk calls the Twitter Files, a series of tweets by conservative journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.
Musk’s tweets to his tens of millions of followers have for years prompted followers to shower the targets of their wrath with online threats, such as a participant in the rescue of a children’s soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand , whom Musk called a “fart.” dude.” But now that Musk owns one of the world’s most powerful social networks and has gutted the division of the company that once policed online harassment, the stakes are even higher.
Musk’s tweets about Roth brought to mind the QAnon conspiracy movement, which incorrectly claims that Democratic Party leaders run a child sex abuse ring.
“Looks like Yoel is arguing for children to access adult internet services in his PhD thesis,” Musk tweeted on Saturday, attaching a screenshot of Roth’s thesis.
Elon Musk steps up criticism of Twitter execs, prompting attacks online
In the text, Roth suggested that services like gay dating app Grindr should adopt safety strategies to accommodate teens using their platforms, rather than kicking them out entirely. Musk also commented on a 2010 tweet in which Roth wrote: “Can high school students ever meaningfully consent to sex with their teachers?” Roth then linked to an article about a Washington state Supreme Court ruling on what age students can consent to have sex with their teachers.
Musk’s critical comments about Roth are a bit of a change from his early days at the company, when Roth appeared to be one of the few high-level Twitter executives Musk supported. On October 30, the billionaire tweeted: “I want to be clear that I support Yoel. My sense is that he has great integrity and we are all entitled to our political beliefs.”
And Roth appeared measured in his comments to Twitter’s new owner, seeking to reassure the public about the company’s efforts to fight hate and protect elections. He even appeared alongside Musk on a call meant to reassure advertisers.
Even after leaving Twitter in November, Roth was muted in his criticism. He warned in an article in the New York Times that there was “little need” for a trust and security function in a company where “policies are defined by edict.” But he also said publicly that it was inaccurate to portray Musk as the “dolan of history” in his takeover of the company.
“I think one of the tricky things about Elon, in particular, is that people really want him to be the villain of the story, and they want him to be unequivocally wrong and evil, and everything he says is duplicity,” Roth. he said during an interview at the Knight Foundation conference. “I have to say… that wasn’t my experience with him.”
Musk’s “free speech” agenda is dismantling security work at Twitter, experts say
Still, Roth is the most visible former Twitter executive weighing in on Musk’s actions, and his role at the company has been highlighted in Twitter files.
Twitter employees are wary of Musk’s ability to stoke criticism online. Shortly after announcing his plans to take over the company in April, he tweeted a meme to his tens of millions of followers featuring the face of Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, that appeared to suggest that the company’s decisions are affected by a “far left”. partiality.”
Twitter users quickly piled on, calling for Musk to fire Gadde or using racist language to describe her. Gadde was born in India and immigrated to the United States as a child. One user said she would “go down in history as a scary person.”
This harassment is part of a years-long pattern for Musk, with few legal consequences so far. In the end, Musk was found not liable in a defamation lawsuit filed after he made his “fart” remarks.
Joseph Menn and Naomi Nix contributed from San Francisco.