After Elon Musk's mass layoffs, Twitter struggles to deal with political misinformation and other harmful posts. The mass layoffs happened just before the US midterm elections.
Employees Who Survived the Job Cuts Shared How They Struggle to Keep Up with Misinformation
According to the story by AP News, employees who survived the job cuts and an outside voting rights group shared how the remaining employees of Twitter struggled to respond to the issues. The recent mass layoffs have spared individuals within the company whose job is to prevent hate and misinformation from affecting the platform.
Musk had already let go of 15% of the frontline content-moderation workers. According to an executive, this is compared to the roughly 50% job cuts, as detailed by Reuters, on different levels and departments around the company.
Company Said They Froze Access to Tools to Help Minimize 'Insider Risk' During Transition Period
Employees said there were measures taken before the layoffs in preparation for it. As per the article, Twitter has sharply reduced the number of employees with access to specific accounts' behavior and digital history.
This practice was considered necessary to investigate whether something was used or done maliciously and for them to take action and suspend it. The company also announced that it had frozen access to the tools to help minimize the "insider risk," especially during a transitioning period.
The Issues Come at a Time that Americans are Getting Ready for the Midterm US Elections
The recent developments at Twitter are causing concerns regarding the midterm elections. Millions of Americans have already cast their early and absentee ballots.
Millions more Americans are also expected to vote in person for the midterm elections. Election watchers hoped that the platform might be ready to deal with hate speech, misinformation, and doubt-casters.
Example of Twitter's Delayed Response
Researchers now trying to track misinformation ahead of the elections notified Twitter about three posts that advanced debunked claims regarding election fraud. After three days, the post remained up.
When researchers from Common Cause asked for an update regarding the posts, Twitter replied that the posts were still "under review." Vice president for campaigns at Common Cause, Jesse Littlewood, said that before Elon Musk's takeover, the company responded much faster.
Changes were Spotted and Compared to Before Elon Musk Bought the Platform
The group said they had maintained regular contact with Twitter staff before Elon Musk acquired the platform for $44 billion, a deal detailed in an article by the New York Times. After his takeover, they reportedly received a response from a generic email address.
Littlewood noted that before the changes, they could get faster decisions within hours. He said it was like pushing a walk sign button at the spotlight with nothing happening.
Read Also: Elon Musk: Twitter Free Speech to the 'Extreme'? Says He Will NOT Ban Account Tracking his Plane
Elon Musk Also Decreased Staff in Different Teams
So far, Elon Musk has decreased the number of staff working on marketing, communication, and editorial curation. These roles are related to what people see on Twitter.
The decision to retain a lot of the moderation team was seen as a surprise to some people that were both inside and outside of the company.
Related Article: Elon Musk News: Twitter Impersonators to be Permanently Suspended
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Written by Urian B.
