At the beginning of 2016, Twitter announced some good news: the formation of the Trust and Safety Council, made up of more than 40 outside groups and experts tapped for advice “to ensure that people feel safe expressing themselves on Twitter.” By that point, the company had already spent years knee-deep in accusations that its social network was rife with abuse and harassment. Something had to change.
The plan seemed to work for a time, as Twitter reported targeting and stamping out 10 times as many abusive accounts in 2017 as it had in the year prior. However, it seems as though the company has moved away from relying on its Trust and Safety Council when making decisions on how to change the platform.
According to a recent report from Wired, things aren’t going well. A number of members on the council sent a letter to Twitter leadership this week expressing concerns that the company is no longer listening to their recommendations. In some acses, members claim that Twitter has months without responding to messages from council members.
In the letter, obtained by Wired and published Friday, members of the council express to the company that “There have been no advance heads-up of Twitter’s policy or product changes to the council, leaving many of us to have no prior warning or let alone knowledge when answering press and media inquiries.” The members said the lack of communication is “embarrassing.” While not ever member of the council signed on to the letter, those that did have requested a meeting with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to discuss a vision for the council’s role within the company going forward.
