Musk's Twitter Actions Could Incite Harm, Experts Warn: 'Playing With Fire'

In the latest controversial move under CEO Elon Musk's leadership, Twitter on Monday reportedly disbanded its Trust and Safety advisory council, which monitored hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other perils on the platform.

In an email sent to the nearly 100 volunteer members of the council, Twitter said that it was "reevaluating how best to bring external insights" to its platform, and stated that the council was "not the best structure to do this," according to the Associated Press (AP), which obtained a copy of the letter.

"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," read the email, which was signed "Twitter."

The disbandment follows the latest string of internal company reports led by Musk, better known as the "Twitter Files," in an effort to be more transparent about occasions the platform censored users prior to Musk acquiring Twitter in late October. "Part five" of the report was posted Monday by former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss, which included screenshots of the discussion behind suspending former President Donald Trump's account in January 2021.

Twitter's recent actions have come under mass scrutiny, as many feared early into Musk's reign that issues like hate speech and harassment would thrive under his leadership. Some reports even showed that hate speech and the use of racist slurs increased significantly in the first few days Musk took control.

The billionaire also wasted no time in making major changes to the company, firing nearly half of its employees within his first week and quickly dismantling teams like the human rights department.

The continuing "Twitter Files" exposé has placed some former employees and the now-disbanded Trust and Safety council members at risk, according to a report from CNN Monday that said former head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth had to flee his home due to increased threats and harassment. A person familiar with Roth's plight told the outlet that threats "escalated" after Musk "engaged in a pedophilia conspiracy theory."

In a series of screenshots reposted by Caroline Orr Bueno, researcher at the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security, threats made on Roth's Twitter account included photos of a firing squad and a pill container full of bullets. Each tweet also included screenshots of an email from Twitter stating the posts hadn't broken the platform's "safety policies."

"Elon Musk is essentially monetizing the death threats being lobbed at Yoel Roth," Bueno wrote along with the photo. "If this isn't stopped, it's not a matter of 'if' but 'when' someone will get killed because of it."

Media professor at Northeastern University John Wihbey told Newsweek on Monday that he "applauds" Musk's drive to be more transparent, but he fears that Musk's approach with the "Twitter Files" could "incite more really cruel, coordinated internet-based trolling, abuse and threats."

"Musk seems to be making a kind of sport of this kind of 'exposure' of internal company communications," Wihbey added. "But he's playing with fire. We have ample stories of real-world harm following from people getting wound up by internet-based conspiracies."

Former Trust and Safety council member Alex Holmes, founder of the British anti-bullying peer advisory program that's part of the Diana Award, tweeted Monday night that many council members have had their "personal safety impacted" due to Twitter's recent actions.

"The way this has unfolded and way members have been treated is unfortunate and unacceptable," Holmes wrote.

Other former council members also spoke out Monday, including Jodie Ginsberg, president of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Ginsberg wrote in a statement on behalf of the organization that disbanding the board was "cause for grave concern, particularly as it is coupled with increasingly hostile statements by Twitter owner Elon Musk about journalists and the media."

According to AP, the Trust and Safety council was formed in 2016, composed of civil, human rights and other organizations. The advisory board also only provided guidance on how to better combat issues like hate speech and harassment, but did not have any "decision-making authority," read the report.

Wihbey told Newsweek that he thinks there could have been "a more rational venue" for Musk to address past decisions other than sharing internal company communications, adding that the revisited decisions "were often made by people doing their best, with incomplete information and under extreme time pressure and stress."

"I don't believe the instinct to have a 'Twitter Files' is wrong in terms of transparency about decision-making, but I fear the whole thing is being orchestrated merely to take shots at the old guard and draw attention, not to achieve deeper insights," he added.

Newsweek has reached out to Twitter's communications department for comment.