Twitter decided to dismantle the Security Committee of the platform, a move the Washington Post calls “the latest signal that Elon Musk is destroying years of work and institutions created to make the social network safer and more civilized”. Members of the Trust and Safety Council received a farewell email and then discussed on Zoom with some Twitter executives.
Twitter eliminates the platform’s Safety Committee
An email with the subject “Thank you“. So Twitter says goodbye to the volunteers who have trained the committee that discussed the platform management policies. According to the letter, the committee is no longer the “best structure” for the Twitter team to receive external insights into our product and policy development work.”
In the letter, reported by the Washington Post, we read: “We are grateful for your commitment, for your advice and collaboration in recent years and We wish you every success for the future“. An hour later, some Twitter executives heard the Committee members via Zoom to discuss the latest social developments and say goodbye.
The Trust and Safety Council had a diverse background. Civil rights defenders, academics, lawyers. All people who participated on a voluntary basis in this Committee for provide feedback from civil society to social media.
News that comes suddenly, but not unexpected. In the last two months, with Musk CEO, it seemed increasingly clear that the Committee was now playing a marginal role. Policy decisions, such as the readmission to Twitter of accounts suspended under a general amnesty, are coming with a tweet in the new CEO. Not a resolution of a plural committee that decides after an exhaustive discussion.
Likewise, the readmission of former President Trump, banned for life from the Committee, required a poll from his sole follower of Musk.
However, this news makes it official that this new version of the social network is Musk-centric and does not want input from the outside.