This week, Twitter announced that it was disbanding its “Trust and Safety Council,” according to an email the company sent to the council’s members.
Multiple news agencies have confirmed that that Twitter is: “reevaluating 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.”
“A page on Twitter’s website, which has now been removed, explained that the council was made up of external expert organizations that advised on issues including online safety, human and digital rights, suicide prevention, mental health, child sexual exploitation, and dehumanization,” Donie O’Sullivan notes.
About the council, Twitter said: “Together, they advocate for safety and advise us as we develop our products, programs, and rules.”
Through a statement last week, three members of the council reportedly resigned in protest that “contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”
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A spokesperson for the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) told CNN that: “Rather than engage with members’ concerns, Twitter disbanded the Council less than an hour before the call.”
“CDT and other Council members have been deeply concerned by Twitter executives’ disregard for due process, deliberative policymaking, and investment of resources to maintain the fairness and safety of the platform,” the spokesperson is quoted as to saying.
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According to Yael Eisenstat, the vice president of the ADL’s Center for Technology and Society: “ADL was an active member of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council because we strongly believed that social media companies should learn from the best practices of civil society and those communities most affected by hate, harassment, and extremism online on how to best address these issues.”
“It is disappointing that the council was dissolved because its members had valuable insights about how to make their platform a safer place for all users,” he said in a statement.
