Days after Elon Musk took the helm at Twitter and just before the US midterm elections, the social media site has limited some of its content moderation tools.
It can hinder staff’s ability to stop misinformation, as they won’t be able to manually change or penalize accounts.
The change is the latest to be implemented by Musk and comes after he made significant staff cuts and sacked Twitter’s board, making himself the sole member.
He is also said to be considering other big new ideas, including charging $20 a month for verification.
Those working in Twitter’s Trust and Safety organization are currently unable to modify or penalize accounts that violate the platform’s rules for misleading information, offensive posts and hate speech.
According to sources inside the matter, they can only penalize people who make posts that violate Twitter’s rules to the extent of real-world harm, according to Bloomberg.
They added that the team was manually implementing those posts.
The change is the latest to be implemented by Musk, pictured, and comes after he made significant staff cuts and sacked Twitter’s board, making himself the sole member
At Twitter, staff have control panels, called agent tools, to ban or suspend accounts that have violated the policy (file image)
At Twitter, staff have control panels, called agent tools, to ban or suspend accounts that have violated the policy.
Policy violations may be detected automatically or reported by other Twitter users.
However, only Twitter employees can remove or suspend accounts using the dashboard.
But the tools have been out of service since last week, according to insiders.
It is claimed that this restriction was put in place after Twitter became owned by Musk in an attempt to stop changes to the app demanded by employees.
Sources at the company, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed that the top level of access to tools given to employees has dropped from hundreds to just 15.
The restriction is said to have been put in place after Twitter came under Musk’s ownership in an effort to stop changes to the app demanded by employees.
Sources at the company, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed that the high level of access to tools given to employees has dropped from hundreds to just 15
Fears are growing that it will be harder to enforce Twitter’s policies and filter out misinformation as the US moves closer to the Nov. 8 midterm deadline.
Employees on the team must comply with disinformation and civic integrity policies. Those rules were routinely violated by former President Trump in the run-up to the 2020 election and beyond, according to Twitter.
It comes after messages of disinformation on the site during Brazil’s presidential election, which ended yesterday and saw Lula return.
The team had limited access to internal moderation tools. Twitter uses automated enforcement technology and third-party contractors.
But high-level breaches are usually handled by those who work for Twitter, according to insiders.
Dailymail.com has contacted Twitter for comment.
Yoel Roth, head of security and integrity, tweeted about the story: “This is exactly what we (or any company) should be doing in the midst of a corporate transition to reduce opportunities for insider risk. We are still implementing our twitter rules at scale.’
It comes days since billionaire Musk finalized his deal to take the social media platform private.
Twitter staff are concerned about other potential changes to the platform, including restoring data access to researchers and academics and dealing with foreign influence operations.
Musk’s take came after there was an increase in hate speech on Twitter. Data from Dataminr found there was a 1,700 percent increase in the use of racial slurs.
It was the equivalent of 215 times every five minutes at its peak and occurred during a period when the Trust’s team did not have access to enforce moderation policies.
In direct response to the slurs, Roth tweeted about the issue yesterday.
He said “very few people” see the content on Twitter and added: “Since Saturday, we have been focused on addressing the increase in hateful behavior on Twitter. We have made measurable progress, removing more than 1,500 accounts and reducing impressions on this content to almost zero,’
It was described as a ‘focused, short-term trolling campaign’ by Roth.
Although Musk has said he has not made changes to content moderation policies, he has said he thinks Twitter’s rules are restrictive.
And he described himself as a free-speech absolutist, who reportedly questioned the policies while talking to staff.
Musk is set to review Twitter’s overall misinformation policy.
Twitter’s policy penalizes posts including lies about topics such as election results and Covid.
In direct response to racial slurs increasing in number over the weekend on the platform, Yoel Roth, head of security and integrity, pictured, tweeted about the issue yesterday. He said that ‘very few people’ see the content on Twitter
According to insiders, Musk wants a more specific policy on disinformation.
The billionaire is also calling for a review of Twitter’s hateful behavior policy.
He is reported to have asked the team to review the section on ‘targeted misogyny or denial of the names of transgender individuals’.
But it has not yet been revealed whether the policies will be rewritten or the restrictions removed entirely at Musk’s request.
This comes after it was revealed yesterday that Musk is considering charging a $20 per month verification fee
Twitter’s new CEO has allegedly issued an ultimatum to the social media platform’s engineers, telling them to revamp Twitter’s verification system within two weeks or face being fired.
This comes after it was revealed yesterday that Musk is considering charging a $20 per month verification fee.
He had tweeted: ‘The whole verification process is being renewed now.’
Twitter’s new CEO has reportedly issued an ultimatum to the social media platform’s engineers, telling them to revamp Twitter’s verification system in less than two weeks or face being fired.
Platformer’s Casey Newton reported that Twitter was moving toward requiring verified users to pay for the privilege.
The potential move attracted controversy on social media, with author Stephen King tweeting: ‘$20 a month to keep my blue cheque? F*** that, they have to pay me. If that’s decided, I’m gone like Enron.’
