According to media reports, as Elon Musk continues to fire Twitter staff, the microblogging site is no longer in a position to protect users from Twitter trolls, state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, and even child sexual exploitation.
According to current and former company workers, methods to protect Twitter users from trolling and harassment are proving tough to sustain in the face of large layoffs that have disproportionately impacted content safety, moderation, and policy teams.

The layoffs continues

Twitter has fewer than 2,000 employees, down from over 7,500 just a few months ago, as Musk continues to fire personnel.
Under Musk’s leadership, hate is flourishing, “with Twitter trolls emboldened, harassment rising, and a jump in accounts following misogynistic and abusive profiles,” according to the research.

BBC research

The BBC research also discovered that child sexual exploitation is on the rise on Twitter and is not highlighted as much as it used to be with law enforcement agencies. According to colleagues, the confusion has been caused by a significant disruption in staffing.

“A completely fresh person, with no expertise, is doing the work of more than 20 employees. That opens the door to far more danger and the possibility of things going wrong, “An engineer in charge of the computer code that powers Twitter said.

Replacing Twitter engineers with Tesla’s

Musk brought in engineers from Tesla and requested them to analyze engineers’ code in a matter of days before determining who to fire. But, such s code would take “months” to understand. Therefore Harassment tactics aiming at stifling free expression and foreign influence operations, which were earlier removed daily from the site, are now going “undetected,” according to a recent employee referenced in the paper.

“Rape survivors have been targeted by accounts that have been more active after the takeover, with evidence that they have been reactivated or newly formed,” according to the report.

A US Senator concernes about the disability community amid the reckless layoffs

US Senator Ed Markey has also urged Musk to resurrect the accessibility team, citing increased difficulties and frustration in using the platform by those with disabilities. “You recently fired Twitter’s Accessibility Team, which was critical in developing and implementing vital services for Twitter users with disabilities,” he wrote to Musk.

Not surprisingly, “since you disbanded Twitter’s Accessibility Team,” disabled users have experienced greater difficulty and displeasure with Twitter. Musk has completed his fourth wave of layoffs at Twitter, affecting over 200 individuals, including product managers, engineers, and members of data science teams.

Source: business-standard