Twitter puts an end to advisory group
Trust and Safety Council members, Musk traded blows on the platform
Elon Musk’s Twitter has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of about 100 independent civil, human rights and other organizations the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform.
The council had been scheduled to meet with Twitter representatives Monday night. But shortly before the meeting, Twitter informed the group via email that the company was disbanding the council, according to multiple members.
Council members, who provided images of the email from Twitter to The Associated Press, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The email said Twitter was “reevaluating how best to bring external insights” and the council is “not the best structure to do this.”
“Our work to make Twitter a safe, informative place will be moving faster and more aggressively than ever before and we will continue to welcome your ideas going forward about how to achieve this goal,” said the email, which was signed “Twitter.”
The volunteer group provided expertise and guidance on how Twitter could better combat hate, harassment and other harms but didn’t have any decision-making authority and didn’t review specific content disputes. After buying Twitter for $44 billion in late October, Musk said he would form a new “content moderation council” to help make major decisions, but later changed his mind.
“Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council was a group of volunteers who over many years gave up their time when consulted by Twitter staff to offer advice on a wide range of online harms and safety issues,” tweeted council member Alex Holmes. “At no point was it a governing body or decision making.”
Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, had confirmed a meeting with the council Thursday in an email in which it promised an “open conversation and Q&A” with Twitter staff, including the new head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin.
That came on the same day that three council members announced they were resigning in a public statement posted on Twitter that said that “contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and well-being of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”
Those former council members soon became the target of online attacks after Musk amplified criticism of them and Twitter’s past leadership for what Musk said were lacking efforts to stop child sexual exploitation on the platform.
“It is a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!” Musk tweeted.
A growing number of attacks on the council led to concerns from some remaining members who sent an email to Twitter earlier Monday demanding the company stop misrepresenting the council’s role. Those false accusations by Twitter leaders were “endangering current and former Council members,” the email said.