Twitter woes deepen security concerns - 台北時報

EMPLOYEE EXODUS: Autocratic countries could exploit the platform’s diminished capableness to safeguard idiosyncratic data, a integer adept said, urging US regulators to measurement successful

• AFP, WASHINGTON

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Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk has pledged the level would not go a “hellscape,” but experts fearfulness a unit exodus pursuing wide layoffs mightiness person devastated its quality to combat misinformation, impersonation and information theft.

Twitter devolved into what campaigners described arsenic a cesspit of falsehoods and hatred code aft layoffs past week chopped fractional the firm’s 7,500 staff, and fake accounts proliferated pursuing its botched rollout of a caller verification system.

Further throwing the societal media level into disarray — and raising uncertainty astir its precise beingness — reports said hundreds of employees connected Thursday departed the institution successful defiance of an ultimatum from Musk.

“The immense fig of layoffs and resignations raises superior questions astir contented moderation and the information of idiosyncratic data,” said Cheyenne Hunt-Majer, a large tech accountability advocator astatine nonprofit radical Public Citizen. “It is imperative that [US regulators] enactment with urgency arsenic users could person their delicate information exploited oregon adjacent stolen fixed the deficiency of capable unit that stay to adequately support it.”

The hashtag #RIPTwitter gained immense traction connected the level aft resignations poured successful from employees who chose “no” to Musk’s request that they either beryllium “extremely hardcore” oregon exit the company.

Twitter has plunged into turmoil arsenic Musk, a self-professed state of code absolutist, seeks to shingle up the money-losing institution aft his blockbuster US$44 cardinal buyout precocious past month.

The platform’s contented moderation teams — mostly outsourced contractors who combat misinformation — person been axed and a fig of engineers person been fired aft openly criticizing Musk connected Twitter oregon connected an interior messaging board, according to reports and Twitter posts.

Wary brands person paused oregon slowed down advertizing spending — Twitter’s biggest gross root — aft a spike successful racist and anti-Semitic trolling connected the platform.

“Misinformation ace spreaders” — oregon untrustworthy accounts peddling falsehoods — saw a 57 percent leap successful engagement successful the week aft Musk’s acquisition, a survey by the nonprofit watchdog radical NewsGuard showed.

“Elon Musk has swiftly decimated Twitter’s quality to support the platform’s integrity, wellness and safety,” said Jessica Gonzalez, cochief enforcement serviceman astatine the nonpartisan radical Free Press. “If determination is 1 acquisition that each societal media platforms indispensable instrumentality distant from this debacle, it’s that without protecting users from hatred and lies you person nary institution astatine all.”

In a effect to critics, Musk connected Friday indicated a caller absorption for contented moderation connected Twitter.

While not being wholly removed from the platform, Musk said that “negative/hate tweets” would beryllium “max deboosted [and] demonetized, truthful nary ads oregon different gross to Twitter.”

“You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically question it out, which is nary antithetic from remainder of Internet,” helium wrote.

However, his program fell connected skeptical ears.

“We could surely spot a spike successful misinformation, hatred code and different objectionable contented due to the fact that of Musk’s latest moves,” New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics enforcement manager Zeve Sanderson said. “Content moderation is simply a batch harder to bash without radical astir to really bash contented moderation.”

Potentially adding to the unit is that Musk connected Saturday restored the Twitter relationship of erstwhile US president Donald Trump, 22 months aft helium was suspended implicit the US Capitol riot by his supporters seeking to overturn the 2020 US statesmanlike predetermination result.

In a missive to the US Federal Trade Commission, a radical of Democratic US senators blamed Musk for introducing “alarming” caller features that undermined information contempt warnings that they would beryllium “abused for fraud, scams and unsafe impersonation.”

“Users are already facing the superior repercussions of this growth-at-all-costs strategy,” they wrote successful the missive published connected Thursday, noting a caller spike successful fake accounts impersonating companies, politicians and celebrities.

Among the victims was drugmaker Eli Lilly, whose banal terms nosedived — erasing billions of US dollar successful marketplace capitalization — aft a parody relationship stamped with a verification tag purchased for US$8 tweeted that insulin was being made disposable for free.

Twitter past week disabled sign-ups for the contentious diagnostic known arsenic Twitter Blue, with reports saying it had been temporarily disabled to assistance code impersonation issues — but not earlier respective brands took a hit.

Given the evident vulnerabilities, integer experts person warned activists, peculiarly successful autocratic countries, of the accrued hazard of individuality theft oregon their backstage messages falling into the hands of hackers.

“Around the world, Twitter is utilized to signifier against oppression,” Hunt-Majer said. “If Musk’s mismanagement kills it, that would beryllium a important stroke to state of accusation and, frankly, quality rights successful wide connected a planetary scale.”