Twitter to form content moderation council with diverse viewpoints: Elon Musk
Twitter may be under new management and Elon Musk may have stated in the past that he intends to make the social media platform into a place for free speech, but for now, the company’s content moderation policies remain unchanged.
Musk had stated that Twitter would be “forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.” He also noted that “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
While interesting, Musk’s announcement did not include any details about which viewpoints would be supported by Twitter’s moderation council. He also did not provide any hints about who would be part of the team or how different it is from the social media company’s current system.
That being said, Musk also clarified that his team has “not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.” With this in mind, Musk’s planned changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies would likely be rolled out at a later date.
To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies https://t.co/k4guTsXOIu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2022
Some significant changes are expected, however, seeing as Musk has made it clear in the past that he does not agree with Twitter’s existing moderation systems. This was hinted at by his prompt termination of Twitter policy chief Vijaya Gadde, who played a part in the permanent suspension of former US President Donald Trump.
Recent reports have suggested that the Tesla CEO intends to reverse lifetime bans on individuals such as former US President Donald Trump. Citing an individual reportedly familiar with the matter, Bloomberg noted that Musk “intends to do away with permanent bans on users because he doesn’t believe in lifelong prohibitions.” This is not surprising considering that back in May, Musk had noted that Twitter’s decision to ban Trump permanently was “morally wrong and flat-out stupid.”
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