Elon Musk has only been in handle of Twitter for a brief time, but he’s currently creating massive moves. Musk fired a quantity of essential executives on day 1 like Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, but in a new tweet he claims he’ll be moving far more gradually when it comes to creating content material moderation choices.
Musk hasn’t mentioned a great deal considering that taking more than at Twitter, but he will apparently type some sort of policy advisory physique to oversee content material moderation choices. Musk mentioned the group will reflect “diverse viewpoints” although we’ll definitely have to wait and see on that 1.
Importantly, Musk says he will not be creating any significant choices or account reinstatements— i.e. restoring former President Donald Trump — prior to the council is place in spot. Because it is Musk that may come about inside hours or it may not come about at all, it is really hard to say.
On Thursday, Musk also let go of Vijaya Gadde, a nicely-respected prime policy executive at the firm who helped it navigate complicated legal and moderation challenges for far more than 11 years. Getting rid of Gadde was a signal that a new era with diverse choice creating is starting, for superior or worse.
The tweet is most likely far more balm for skittish advertisers wary of Musk straight away turning the platform into an something-goes mess of harassment, hate and misinformation. While Twitter arguably currently meets that description with current levels of moderation in spot, advertisers are watching for any significant shifts in the sort of content material permitted on the platform and how it may adversely have an effect on their brands.
Musk may believe this is an original notion, but Twitter currently consults a trust and security council to advise its solution and policy choices. The council — it is currently known as a council — consisted initially of 40 organizations and professionals that advised it in difficult policy regions. That group served in far more of an advisory capacity, and in contrast to with Meta’s Oversight Board, it wasn’t developed to generate binding choices.
First announced in 2016, Twitter expanded the entity in 2020 to type groups devoted to certain tough subjects, like security and on line harassment, digital rights, kid sexual exploitation and suicide prevention. “A lot of what we currently do, such as ongoing meetings with NGOs, activists and other organizations is always part of our process, but we haven’t done enough to share that externally,” Twitter wrote at the time.
It’s doable Musk has some thing far more like the Oversight Board in thoughts when it comes to content material moderation choice creating, but almost everything from the people today who wind up serving on a hypothetical council to the nature of the group’s effect is most likely to be controversial.