On Monday night, Twitter disbanded the Trust and Safety Council. The council included civic-society organizations. It advised the social media company on how to implement its policies on material such as hate speech before billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter.
Twitter sent a signed email reading: “As Twitter moves into a new phase, we are re-evaluating how best to bring external insights into our product and policy development work. As part of this process, we have decided that the Trust and Safety Council is not the best structure to do this.”
Twitter announced a paid-for subscription service that would show fewer ads and include additional features. This happened the same day it introduced a move to increase its revenue independent of digital advertising. Ella Irwin is Twitter’s new head of trust and safety as of November. She told the Journal that the platform emphasizes moving quickly to remove harmful content. Even if it necessitates understanding some details later.
According to a person familiar with the situation, the message was sent around an hour before the council was due to meet with Ms.Irwin. The council was set to meet Nick Pickles, senior director for worldwide public policy strategy, development, and partnerships.
The Role of The Trust and Safety Council Had Become Unclear
The Trust and Safety Council’s role in Musk’s purchase of Twitter became unclear. Mr. Musk mentioned the possibility of forming a content moderation council. However, he didn’t elaborate on how it would work in conjunction with the Trust and Safety Council.
The Trust and Safety Council’s scheduled meeting was postponed until December 15 last month. Twitter announced Monday as a meeting date last week.
The council members met on November 29 to discuss their concerns without Twitter representatives. Three Trust and Safety Council members declared last week that they would quit. They claimed that Twitter’s safety and well-being are declining.
The council was created in 2016. The diverse and international organization represented a range of concerns, varying from internet safety for minors to mitigating hate speech.
