Musk’s Twitter 2.0 disbands Trust and Safety Council

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Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council, was an advisory group, set up in 2016, to counter hate speech, suicide, child exploitation, self-harm, and other problematic content on Twitter – consisting of around a 100 independent human rights, civil, and other organizations. Prior to an upcoming meeting with Twitter this coming Monday, multiple members of the council have reported receiving an email notifying them of the dissolution of the council, citing that Twitter was “reevaluating how best to bring external insights”, and that the council is “not the best structure to do this.”

The members have shared images of the email with The Associated Press on condition of remaining anonymous. The email, signed “Twitter”, said “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.”

The council had no governing or decision making power, but rather, voluntarily “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,” according to council member Alex Holmes.

Twitter had earlier confirmed the Monday meeting with the council by an email on Thursday, which promised an “open conversation and Q&A” with Twitter staff, including the new head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin. This email had followed a announcement of resignation by three council members earlier in the day, via a public statement on Twitter, saying “contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”