Ensure Twitter respects human rights, UN urges Musk

GENEVA: UN rights chief Volker Turk on Saturday urged Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk to make respect for human rights central to the social network after he sacked around half the firm’s employees.

Reports of Musk laying off the platform’s entire human rights team were “not, from my perspective, an encouraging start”, Turk said in an open letter.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said he was writing with “concern and apprehension about our digital public square and Twitter’s role in it”.

He warned against propagating hate speech and misinformation and highlighted the need to protect user privacy.

Turk urged Twitter to stand up for the rights to privacy and free expression to the fullest extent possible, under relevant laws, and to transparently report on government pressures that would infringe those rights.

Musk, the richest person in the world, took control of the platform a week ago in a contentious deal.

After completing his US$44 billion (RM209 billion) acquisition, Musk quickly set about dissolving Twitter’s board and sacking its chief executive and top managers.

Twitter on Friday fired roughly half of its 7,500-strong workforce.

“Like all companies, Twitter needs to understand the harm associated with its platform and take steps to address them,” wrote Turk.

“Respect for our shared human rights should set the guardrails for the platform’s use and evolution.

“In short, I urge you to ensure human rights are central to the management of Twitter under your leadership.”

Turk posted the open letter on Twitter, where he has more than 25,000 followers.