Australia's eSafety Commissioner has initiated a significant move to address the pressing issue of online hate on Twitter.
The country's safety watchdog has issued a legal notice to Twitter, demanding detailed information about the measures the social media giant is implementing to effectively tackle online hate speech.
Complaints About Online Hate
In the past 12 months, eSafety said it had received several complaints regarding online hate on Twitter than on any other platform.
Moreover, since Elon Musk's takeover of the company in October 2022, the commissioner claims an increase in reports of serious online abuse.
The surge in complaints coincides with Twitter's global downsizing, reducing its workforce from 8,000 employees to 1,500, including cuts to its trust and safety teams.
Additionally, Twitter ended its public policy presence in Australia during this period. Notably, this came with Musk's announcement of a "general amnesty" in November, which resulted in the reinstatement of 62,000 banned or suspended users, including 75 accounts with more than 1 million followers.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant highlighted that Twitter's terms of use and policies explicitly prohibit hateful conduct on the platform.
Grant expressed concern over the alarming rise in online hate, citing eSafety research revealing that nearly 1 in 5 Australians have experienced some form of online hate.
Furthermore, individuals who identify as First Nations Australians, disabled, or part of the LGBTIQ+ community experience online hate at double the rate of the rest of the population.
She said, "Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate. A third of all complaints about online hate reported to us are now happening on Twitter. We are also aware of reports that the reinstatement of some of these previously banned accounts has emboldened extreme polarisers, peddlers of outrage and hate, including neo-Nazis both in Australia and overseas."
Reported Online Hate on Twitter
eSafety's concerns align with broader apprehensions about the reported toxicity and hate directed toward marginalized communities on Twitter. In a recent report, the US advocacy group GLAAD designated Twitter as the most hateful platform towards the LGBTQ+ community.
Similarly, research conducted by the UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) claimed that slurs targeting African Americans appeared an average of 1,282 times a day on Twitter before Musk's takeover. But after that, the frequency more than doubled to an average of 3,876 times a day.
This recent legal notice focusing on online hate follows a previous effort by eSafety in February to gather information from various platforms, including Twitter, TikTok, Google YouTube, Twitch, and Discord. The objective was to address concerns related to child sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual extortion, and harmful content through algorithmic systems.
eSafety is in the process of evaluating the responses received from these platforms and expects to deliver pertinent information in the near future.
If Twitter fails to respond to the latest notice within 28 days, it may face severe financial penalties amounting to almost $700,000 per day for continuous violations.
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