Elon Musk Drops Hammer, Limits Use Of Censorship Tools By Twitter Employees Ahead Of Midterms

Elon Musk has limited Twitter employees’ access to content moderation tools in his first week of ownership. According to one media report, Musk is allowing only a handful of Twitter staff to use the censorship tools.

Reporter Jackie Davalos said: “A wide swath of Twitter’s trust & safety team had access to content moderation/enforcement tools frozen last week. Usually, hundreds of people on the team could remove posts w/misinfo, hate speech etc. It’s now down to 15 people.”

Yoel Roth, Head of Safety & Integrity at Twitter, rebuked the reporter saying: “This is exactly what we (or any company) should be doing in the midst of a corporate transition to reduce opportunities for insider risk. We’re still enforcing our rules at scale.”

Elon Musk said: “I recommend following @yoyoel for the most accurate understanding of what’s happening with trust & safety at Twitter.”

This is exactly what we (or any company) should be doing in the midst of a corporate transition to reduce opportunities for insider risk. We’re still enforcing our rules at scale. https://t.co/CZudS4gBqo

— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) November 1, 2022

Arizona Secretary of State GOP nominee Mark Finchem has his Twitter account frozen until he appealed to Elon Musk who fixed it quickly.

Finchem said: “We are back! Thank you @elonmusk for stopping the commie who suspended me from Twitter a week before the election. Twitter is much better with you at the helm.

From Bloomberg:

Most people who work in Twitter’s Trust and Safety organization are currently unable to alter or penalize accounts that break rules around misleading information, offensive posts and hate speech, except for the most high-impact violations that would involve real-world harm, according to people familiar with the matter.

Those posts were prioritized for manual enforcement, they said.

People who were on call to enforce Twitter’s policies during Brazil’s presidential election did get access to the internal tools on Sunday, but in a limited capacity, according to two of the people. 

The company is still utilizing automated enforcement technology, and third-party contractors, according to one person, though the highest-profile violations are typically reviewed by Twitter employees.

NEW: A wide swath of Twitter’s trust & safety team had access to content moderation/enforcement tools frozen last week. Usually, hundreds of people on the team could remove posts w/misinfo, hate speech etc. It’s now down to 15 people. Scoop w/@KurtWagner8 @daveyalba @EdLudlow

— Jackie Davalos (@jackiedavalos1) November 1, 2022

I recommend following @yoyoel for the most accurate understanding of what’s happening with trust & safety at Twitter

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022