Twitter layoffs fuel misinformation concerns
TWITTER's new owner Elon Musk has pledged the platform will not devolve into a ‘free-for-all hellscape,' but experts warn that mass layoffs may deeply impair the social network's ability to curb misinformation.
Twitter on Friday (4) fired roughly half of its 7,500-strong workforce, only days before next week's midterm elections in the United States, when a spike in fake content is expected across social media.
The cuts, which come after Musk's blockbuster $44m buyout of the company, hit multiple divisions, including trust and safety teams that manage content moderation as well as engineering and machine learning, US reports said.
‘I would be real careful on this platform in the coming days... about what you retweet, who you follow, and even your own sense of what's going on,' said Kate Starbird, a disinformation researcher and assistant professor at the University of Washington.
Starbird warned in her own Twitter post of an increased risk of ‘impersonation' attempts,'coordinated disinformation by manipulators' and ‘hoaxes that attempt to get you to spread falsehoods.'
Jessica Gonzalez, co-chief executive officer at the nonpartisan group Free Press, said she was concerned that Twitter's content-moderation efforts could potentially slacken prior to the election, ‘when we know social media goes off the rails to misinform, intimidate and harm voters of color.'
‘Twitter was already a hellscape before Musk took over, and his actions... will only make it worse,' said Gonzalez.
Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity, sought to soothe those concerns, saying the platform's front-line moderation staff were least impacted by the cuts and combating harmful misinformation during the midterms was a ‘top priority.'
‘While we said goodbye to incredibly talented friends and colleagues... our core moderation capabilities remain in place,' Roth tweeted.
Free Press is part of a coalition of more than 60 civil society groups that on Friday called on advertisers to boycott the platform until it committed to being a ‘safe place.' Members of the coalition met with Musk earlier this week after academic studies reported a dramatic increase in hate speech, Nazi memes and racist slurs after his acquisition of the company.