Twitter

Elon Musk’s Twitter Dissolves Trust And Safety Council

Twitter has disbanded its Trust and Safety Council which was a group of about 100 independent civil, human rights, and other organizations formed in 2016 to confront hate speech, exploitation of children, suicidal behavior, self-harm, and other issues on the platform.

The council was supposed to meet with representatives from Twitter on Monday night. According to multiple members, Twitter notified the group through the use of email that it would be disbanding soon before the meeting.

The council members, who offered The Associated Press images of the e-mail from Twitter, were speaking on the subject of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.

“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.”
Source: india.com

The volunteer organization provided expert knowledge and direction over how Twitter can indeed better combat hate, bullying, and other harms, but it lacked judgment authority and did not look into specific content disputes.

“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.”
Source: india.com

Twitter, headquartered in San Francisco, clarified the meeting with the committee in an email on Thursday, promising an open discussion and Q&A with Twitter staff, which include Ella Irwin, the new head of trust and safety.

This happened on the very day that three Trust and Safety council members stepped down in a public announcement posted on Twitter, claiming that contrary to Elon Musk’s claims, the safety, and well-being of Twitter’s users are on the decline.

After Musk criticized them and Twitter’s previous management for supposedly not doing enough to prevent child sexual abuse on the platform, those former council members have become the target of online predators.

Musk wrote on Twitter that It is a crime that they have refused to act on exploitation and abuse for years.

Concerns were raised by some remaining Trust and Safety council members, who wrote an e-mail to Twitter demanding that the company stop misrepresenting its role on Monday.

Suhani Jain

I am a student pursuing my bachelor’s in information technology. I have a interest in writing so, I am working a freelance content writer because I enjoy writing. I also write poetries. I believe in the quote by anne frank “paper has more patience than person

Twitter Closes Brussels Office As Elon Musk’s Reforms Spread To Europe

As per reports, Twitter’s Brussels office has been closed. According to reports, Twitter’s Brussels office has been closed, which may make it more challenging for it to comply with new European Union rules governing content moderation.

The office had less than ten employees, but despite its tiny size, the office was crucial because of its connections to the EU. After Musk took over, the Brussels office staff was reduced from six to two. Last Monday, Twitter’s last two remaining public policy executives, Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, left the company completely dissolving the Brussels office.

They may have quit the company or been dismissed, but they left after Musk gave his employees an ultimatum, asking employees to work “long hours at a high intensity” or face termination with three months’ worth of severance compensation.

Mozer and La Nasa were in charge of Twitter’s public policy in Europe. They were in charge of making sure Twitter conforms with both the Digital Services Act and the EU’s disinformation guidelines. More control over how platforms censor material and when tech corporations must remove unlawful content is granted to EU governments as a result of the new law.

The platforms will have to be open about the factors that go into their content moderation choices. If a user’s content is taken down or accessibility to it is restricted, they have the right to appeal the moderation decision. Twitter might face severe penalties if it doesn’t follow the DSA’s regulations.

Regulators have the power to penalize Twitter up to 6% of its annual global revenue or even shut it down completely. Musk has been cautioned by Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market, that Twitter must adhere to the bloc’s content laws.

Two significant pieces of digital legislation that will establish previously unheard-of criteria for the accountability of digital companies operating in a free and vibrant digital market were adopted by the European Parliament in July of this year. Mass layoffs at Twitter, meanwhile, have already concerned the Commission and prompted Brussels to become more confrontational with Twitter.

The EU vice-president in charge of the disinformation code, Vera Jourova, expressed alarm about the closure of the Brussels office to the Financial Times. She noted, “If you want to effectively detect and take action against disinformation and propaganda, this requires resources. Especially in the context of Russian disinformation warfare, I expect Twitter to fully respect the EU law and honor its commitments.”

Since Musk took over, concerns about increased levels of misinformation on the network have intensified, especially since he made it possible for anybody to get a verified tag for $8. This resulted in trolls posing as Tony Blair, George W. Bush, and other public figures as well as corporations like Nintendo and McDonald’s. Musk has since put the paid verification program on hold, but he’ll probably resume it soon.

While this is going on, several Democratic senators have requested the FTC to investigate if Twitter has broken any consumer protection laws or a consent order with the agency. The latter mandates Twitter to examine new features for any privacy concerns, among other things.

According to a report from earlier this month, Twitter engineers must “self-certify” that they are abiding by FTC guidelines and other regulations. In a recent statement, the FTC stated that it is “tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern.”

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Elon Musk Blames ‘Activists’ for His Twitter Moderation Council Lie

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Elon Musk is trying to clarify why he allowed Donald Trump, as well as others back onto Twitter social media platform despite promising that the decision would be made by a content moderation council comprised of people with “widely diverse viewpoints”.

On Tuesday, in a tweet, he stated the council was a part of the agreement he formed with an unnamed large group of political/social activist groups, indicating it was their fault.

“A large coalition of political/social activist groups agreed not to try to kill Twitter by starving us of advertising revenue if I agreed to this condition,” he said in a tweet. “They broke the deal.” He added.
Source: business-standard.com

Musk claims he made a deal with those groups to keep them from destroying Twitter’s advertising revenue, claiming that those groups “broke the deal,” so he no longer has to defend the council.

Musk unbanned Jordan Peterson, Kathy Griffin, and The Babylon Bee earlier this month prior to actually running a poll asking his fans if people would want to see Donald Trump returned on the platform, tweeting “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” which interprets to “the voices of the people is the voice of God.”

The following day, without mentioning the council, Elon Musk declared that Donald Trump would be reinstated based on the poll data even though the previous president and present presidential candidate has yet to resume tweeting.

It’s certainly not the first time Elon Musk has called out activists. He wrote on Twitter earlier this month that activist groups were pressuring advertisers in an attempt to obliterate free speech in America. In the meantime, The Verge has obtained documents from one of the three main advertising agencies advising clients to discontinue running campaigns on the platform.

Omnicom Media Group and others cited adherence, imitation, a lack of restraint, and how the mass layoffs will highly impact the company’s ability to operate, rather than political or social activist pressure.

Suhani Jain

Elon Musk says Twitter is done with layoffs and ready to hire again

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

Elon Musk is hiring again after firing roughly two-thirds of Twitter’s 7,500 employees in only three weeks.

According to a tweet from a The Verge reporter, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk assured employees in an all-hands meet that the business does not expect future layoffs and is hiring for engineering and ad sales positions. Musk stated that Twitter is hiring for engineering and ad sales positions and that there are no further planned layoffs.

According to The Verge, Musk declared during the meeting that he planned to decentralize Twitter by establishing technical teams in Brazil, Japan, India, and other countries. He asserted throughout the discussion that Twitter’s technological stack has to be completely rebuilt.

Additionally, he asserted that somewhat decentralizing things is a good idea. Musk made a suggestion that engineering teams might also be established in India as part of this.

However, Twitter does not currently have any job vacancies advertised on its website, and Musk did not name the specific technical or sales positions for which the company was recruiting. During the meeting, he stated, “In terms of critical hires, I would say people who are great at writing software are the highest priority.” Last week, The Verge reported that Twitter recruiters had begun contacting engineers and inviting them to join “Twitter 2.0 — an Elon company.”

During a half-hour Q&A session with staff members from Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, Musk claimed there are “no plans” to transfer Twitter headquarters to Texas, as he did with Tesla, but that it may make sense to have “dual-headquartered” offices in Texas and California.

Anyone joining Twitter today will do so in a far smaller organization than it was prior to Musk’s takeover. The precise number of exits during his tenure is unknown, but before he fired over half the workforce, there were almost 7,400 workers with access to Twitter’s internal systems.

Long-serving engineers, some of whom had served the company for over ten years, as well as an increasing number of corporate leaders, have left the company. On Musk’s first day, Twitter’s CEO, CFO, and chief legal officer were all fired.

The executives of Twitter’s biggest content and advertising partnerships have either left their positions or been fired. As per former and current employees, several “essential” teams were totally destroyed by the layoffs and resignations.

Another significant change is the suspension of Twitter’s $8 subscription-based “Blue Verification” mark’s re-launch. Elon Musk has also temporarily suspended the “Blue Verified” badge “until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation”.

According to Musk, the social media giant is delaying the rollout of a new system for awarding verified ticks to users and may instead employ other “colour checks” to verify businesses and people. Musk also mentioned that Twitter will soon be in a position to compete with YouTube in terms of offering a video streaming service, dropping a hint that Twitter may do so with “higher compensation for creators” and a pleasant video experience.

The new Twitter CEO today advised Twitter critics to go on other social media sites and ended his statement with the Hindi greeting “Namaste.” He tweeted,” Hope all judgy hall monitors stay on other platforms – please, I’m begging u.”

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Elon Musk puts Twitter’s Blue Verified relaunch on hold

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

If you didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to give Elon Musk 7.99 USD for a blue check for your Twitter account while you could, you may even have to wait a little longer. Originally scheduled to reintroduce on November 29, Elon Musk wrote on Twitter on Monday evening that the twitter’s blue verified feature will be postponed, indefinitely, until there is a greater probability of stopping identity theft.

The initial release of Twitter Blue Verified or known as the “I-paid-Elon-$7.99” Blue Tick was a complete disaster. Obviously, the feature instantly became favourable to assist bad actors in trying to impersonate celebrities, corporate entities, and political figures.

one user account tried to imitate the drug manufacturer Eli Lilly and was announcing that insulin is free in the name of the company. Before it was removed, the tweet had been viewed a million times. The stock of the company fell 4.37 per cent.

Elon Musk went on to say that Twitter will most likely use a check of a different colour for organisations than individuals. Twitter has already experimented with using a grey official classification underneath high-profile accounts, although the feature has been turned on and off numerous times since it was first introduced.

According to The Verge, Musk also discussed working to develop features such as encoded personal messages and videoconferencing in an intrinsic presentation termed Twitter 2.0. This isn’t the first time he has mentioned implementing end-to-end encrypted DMs.

Musk insinuated that Twitter is progressing on this feature in a tweet in response to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong’s tweet, which outlined code related to that. The Twitter CEO stated earlier this month that the “goal of Twitter DM is to superset Signal.”

As some Twitter users experiment with alternative platforms such as Mastodon and Hive, Elon Musk claims that Twitter added 1.6 million monetizable daily active customers in the recent week, bringing the company’s total to 259.4 million. Notably, Musk engaged in a months-long legal battle after deeming these same metrics inaccurate in an attempt to backtrack on his Twitter purchase.

Suhani Jain

Elon Musk says in court he doesn’t want to be CEO of any company, tries to walk back SEC insults

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

Elon Musk stated in court on Wednesday that he doesn’t desire to lead any company as a CEO.Musk made the casual remark while responding to queries from attorneys for Tesla. He stated, “ I frankly don’t want to be the CEO of any company”.

Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Chancery Court is hearing testimony in a case to decide whether Musk, the richest man in the world, should be required to surrender stock options granted as part of his compensation package to Tesla.

The trial, which began on Monday, will examine whether Tesla’s board acted properly when it authorized Musk’s compensation package, which, at the current share price, is currently estimated to be worth $52 billion. It will also examine if Elon had any undue influence on the decision.

Richard J. Tornetta, a shareholder, has filed a lawsuit against Musk and Tesla, claiming that the CEO’s salary was exorbitant and that the Tesla board’s approval of it constituted a violation of its fiduciary obligations. According to Tornetta, the board gave a part-time boss the biggest remuneration package in the world.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs questioned Musk about previous taunts he directed at the Securities and Exchange Commission and whether it was a good idea for him to have a hostile demeanor with regulators. “SEC, three letter acronym, middle word is Elon’s” Musk wrote in a tweet on July 2, 2020, when Tesla share price was experiencing a sharp rise.

Many people perceived the message to be filthy in nature and to be a serious insult to the regulating agency. Attorneys questioned Musk about his tweet in the Delaware court, and Musk said that it had been widely misinterpreted. Although the tweet was “interpreted differently,” Tesla CEO claimed in court that he intended the initials to signify “Save Elon’s Company.”

Elon Musk stated in court, “In general, I think the mission of the SEC is good but the question is whether that mission is being executed well. In some cases I think it is not. The SEC fails to investigate things that they should and places far too much attention on things that are not relevant.

The recent FTX thing I think is an example of that. Why was there no attention given to FTX? Investors lost billions. Yet the SEC continues to hound me despite shareholders being greatly rewarded. This makes no sense.”

When Musk claimed in tweets in 2018, that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share and had “funding secured,” the SEC filed charges against Tesla and Elon Musk for making “false and misleading” assertions to shareholders. Following Musk’s tweets, the value of Tesla shares increased by more than 6%, and trading was suspended the same day.

For several weeks following the incident, Tesla’s share prices were volatile. In a settlement deal, Tesla and Musk stipulated that Musk would forfeit his position as chairman of Tesla for three years, pay a $20 million penalty, and refrain from denying the SEC’s claims or claiming innocence.

Musk and Tesla also agreed to have the CEO’s tweets reviewed by a securities attorney before publication if they contained important information about the company that would affect the value of Tesla’s stock.

The attorneys for Tornetta questioned Musk on whether he had a securities attorney evaluate all of his tweets regarding Tesla and why he had maintained maintaining his innocence, even in press appearances.

Musk appeared to admit that he doesn’t have a lawyer first review all of his tweets on Tesla. He stated, “The consent decree was made under duress. An agreement made under duress is not valid, as a foundation of law.”

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

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