Twitter can’t protect you from trolls any more, insiders say

[onthedarkside]

 

Twitter insiders have told the BBC that the company is no longer able to protect users from trolling, state-co-ordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation, following lay-offs and changes under owner Elon Musk.

 

Exclusive academic data plus testimony from Twitter users backs up their allegations, suggesting hate is thriving under Mr Musk's leadership, with trolls emboldened, harassment intensifying and a spike in accounts following misogynistic and abusive profiles.

 

Current and former employees of the company tell BBC Panorama that features intended to protect Twitter users from trolling and harassment are proving difficult to maintain, amid what they describe as a chaotic working environment in which Mr Musk is shadowed by bodyguards at all times. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64804007

 

[OneMoreFarang]

16 hours ago, onthedarkside said:

the company is no longer able to protect users from trolling, state-co-ordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation,

All that from reading tweets?

I thought many people want free speech.

Not that I am a fan of twitter, but should it really be their job to employ thousands of people or AI to filter out what some people won't like?

Nobody has to use twitter. Don't use it. Problem solved. 

Edited March 6, 2023 by OneMoreFarang

[ozimoron]

5 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

All that from reading tweets?

I thought many people want free speech.

Not that I am a fan of twitter, but should it really be their job to employ thousands of people or AI to filter out what some people won't like?

Nobody has to use twitter. Don't use it. Problem solved. 

They shouldn't filter out state controlled misinformation which can cause unnecessary death? How about child sexual exploitation? Control off the table? Should they fail to control such behaviour they will soon find themselves banned in many countries which don't elevate free speech above hate speech.

[ozimoron]

Over the past 11 months, someone created thousands of fake, automated Twitter accounts — perhaps hundreds of thousands of them — to offer a stream of praise for Donald Trump.

 

Besides posting adoring words about the former president, the fake accounts ridiculed Trump’s critics from both parties and attacked Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador who is challenging her onetime boss for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

 

As Republican voters size up their candidates for 2024, whoever created the bot network is seeking to put a thumb on the scale, using online manipulation techniques pioneered by the Kremlin to sway the digital platform conversation about candidates while exploiting Twitter’s algorithms to maximize their reach.

 

https://apnews.com/article/trump-desantis-twitter-haley-presidential-election-4d61487294f9218855b8e6e89f0c8ccc?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_01

[onthedarkside]

From the female BBC reporter in the OP:

 

After Musk tweeted about my reporting, I’ve been bombarded with hate and death threats. More evidence of what Twitter insiders told BBC Panorama about how Musk’s site is no longer able to protect users from trolling - plus disinformation and child abuse.

 

https://twitter.com/mariannaspring/status/1633430727780966404

 

[Slip]

It's interesting how trolling has evolved into "hate and death threats" and yet it is still just treated like trolling.

[bendejo]

On 3/6/2023 at 7:21 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

I thought many people want free speech.

Being in favor of free speech doesn't count when the other person disagrees with you.

As I used to say of the Berkeley free-speech movement: those free-speech activists won't abide with you disagreeing with them.

For a similar look at the word free, all the restrictions and censorship the governor of Florida is doing is in the cause of freedom, according to him.

The present owner of Twitter bought the company in pursuit of free speech, meaning his own free speech, and everyone else can go to hell.

 

It's time to send Twitter the way MySpace.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/6/2023 at 12:05 PM, onthedarkside said:

Current and former employees of the company tell BBC Panorama that features intended to protect Twitter users from trolling and harassment are proving difficult to maintain,

and if the "twitter users" don't like it they can stop being "twitter users".

Who really cares about twitter anyway?

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, bendejo said:

It's time to send Twitter the way MySpace.

Who would send it that way?

[placeholder]

On 3/6/2023 at 10:21 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

All that from reading tweets?

I thought many people want free speech.

Not that I am a fan of twitter, but should it really be their job to employ thousands of people or AI to filter out what some people won't like?

Nobody has to use twitter. Don't use it. Problem solved. 

I guess if you don't believe that Twitter is fundamentally a business, you're making a good point. Otherwise, not so much.

[JonnyF]

On 3/6/2023 at 10:21 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

All that from reading tweets?

I thought many people want free speech.

Not that I am a fan of twitter, but should it really be their job to employ thousands of people or AI to filter out what some people won't like?

Nobody has to use twitter. Don't use it. Problem solved. 

It's simple. The old left wing employees were quite happy to filter out the stories they didn't like, like the one about Hunter Biden's laptop.

 

Now, they're upset because Musk has increased freedom of speech on the platform. The 'hate' they talk of is simply opinions they disagree with and are no longer allowed to remove. If they don't like it, they can work elsewhere. See ya...

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

and if the "twitter users" don't like it they can stop being "twitter users".

Who really cares about twitter anyway?

Oh yea great idea, let the death threats, abuse, hate speech and child abuse posts carry on and instead tell the victims to leave if they want to. No wonder advertisers have left in droves.