Astronomer in Twitter limbo over 'intimate' meteor

An astronomer from Oxfordshire has been locked retired of her Twitter relationship since August 2022, erstwhile she shared a video of a meteor which was flagged by the site's automated moderation tools.

Mary McIntyre was told that her six 2nd animated clip featured "intimate content", shared without the consent of the participant.

Her lone enactment was to delete the tweet.

However, successful doing truthful she would person had to hold that she had breached the rules.

Her archetypal 12-hour prohibition has present gone connected for 3 months - and she has exhausted the online appeals process.

"It's conscionable crazy... I don't truly privation it connected my grounds that I've been sharing pornographic worldly erstwhile I haven't," she said of her refusal to delete the tweet.

Her relationship is inactive visible, but Ms McIntyre can't entree it.

Since Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk, thousands of unit person either been laid disconnected oregon person near their jobs, but adjacent earlier that Ms McIntyre recovered it intolerable to speech to anyone astir it wrong the firm.

"If I wasn't getting a quality effect earlier [Musk took over], I deliberation I've got zero probability of getting 1 now."

Yoel Roth, Twitter's past caput of spot and integrity, had tweeted that the firm's layoffs did not impact "most" of the 2,000 contented moderators moving "on front-line review". Mr Roth has himself since left.

The BBC tweeted Twitter's enactment relationship and contacted Mr Musk via SpaceX due to the fact that Twitter presently has nary communications department. There has been nary response.

Ms McIntyre said different astronomers had shared the video connected her behalf without consequences.

She is disquieted that if she agrees to Twitter's rules of re-instatement, her non-existent misdemeanour mightiness beryllium flagged up, arsenic she has regular checks successful bid to enactment with school-aged children, explaining astronomy.

"I miss the interaction," she said of her locked account. "I consciousness a spot chopped disconnected from the astronomy world."

US meteorologist Ryan Vaughan faced a akin prohibition aft sharing a video of harvester harvesters moving successful a tract astatine night. This excessively was flagged arsenic an intimate moment.

Mr Vaughan yet did take to delete the tweet and falsely judge that helium had breached Twitter's assemblage rules, due to the fact that helium wanted his relationship back.

"It's not just and it's wrong," helium tweeted. "This needs to beryllium fixed."

There are besides reports of Twitter accounts being wrongly flagged arsenic belonging to children aged beneath 13 and blocked - including 1 belonging to a foundation for the families of radical held hostage, and different of a BBC journalist.

Tech commentator Kate Bevan said it was an illustration of the limitations of the existent artificial quality tools utilized by Twitter and different societal networks to transportation retired moderation tasks.

"AI tools are OK for speedy and soiled decisions, but it shows that contented moderation astatine standard is truly hard - some for humans and for the AI tools that are supporting them," she said.

"It's adjacent worse erstwhile determination are nary humans disposable to reappraisal atrocious AI decisions. Apart from the unfairness, it means the AI exemplary isn't getting feedback, truthful it volition ne'er larn to improve."