Twitter Disbands Trust And Safety Council That Dealt With Harassment

As Twitter continues to welcome myriad changes, an email obtained by CNN reveals that the social media platform has disbanded its ‘Trust and Safety Council’.

The network says it is “reevaluating how best to bring external insights” into its products and policies, and has found that the council is “not the best structure” to take on the job.

Before Elon Musk took over as Chief Twit, the council was formed to target issues concerning online safety, with external experts convening on human and digital rights, suicide prevention, mental health, child sexual exploitation, and more.

A spokesperson for the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) nonprofit tells the publication that the advisory body was dissolved just an hour before it was scheduled to meet with higher-ups at the platform.

This dissolution of the group comes as three members of the council resigned last week, alleging in an open statement that “contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”

“Algorithmic systems can only go so far in protecting users from ever evolving abuse and hate speech before detectable patterns have developed,” the trio says in the letter.

Three of us resigned from Twitter’s Trust & Safety Council today: @eirliani @podesta_lesley and me. Here’s why https://t.co/h05TblfGIO pic.twitter.com/iqcHvhbgms

— annecollier (@annecollier) December 8, 2022

[via CNN and CNET, cover image via Rafael Henrique | Dreamstime.com]