Twitter plans ‘Content Moderation Council’ to review banned accounts
By Business a.m.
Micro blogging site Twitter is planning to set up a “Content Moderation Council” tasked with the responsibility of moderating content on the platform.
The council will comprise people with ‘diverse views’ and will essentially review and take decisions on accounts that have been banned on the platform and decide whether to reinstate them or not.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and new owner of Twitter, who announced this plan on Twitter, said the council will supersede Twitter’s existing content policy under which many accounts, including that of the former US President Donald Trump, were banned from the platform.
He had earlier hinted that he would reverse bans imposed on certain accounts once he acquired Twitter, vowing to use the platform to promote freedom of speech.“Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatement will happen before that council convenes,” Musk announced in a tweet.
Musk announced the completion of a $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal Friday morning, after almost six months of back and forth.
He immediately sacked Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter, and other top executives of the company.
He had earlier explained in a lengthy note that he did not buy Twitter for money but for the sake of humanity.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is that it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said.
“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society,” he said.