Analysts have discovered that X/Twitter has quietly removed the option to report misleading tweets on the Australian platform. This raises concern, a few days before a very divisive national referendum.
X, formerly Twitter, is frequently accused of facilitate the spread of false information. The popularity of the social network and its lax policy regarding moderation of comments leaves individuals, but also governments, free to instill disinformation in the social debate. Reset Australia has discovered that just weeks before a referendum on the representation of Aboriginal Australians in federal parliament, Twitter has disabled an essential feature which allows you to report tweets spreading misleading information.
In an open letter, Reset Australia expresses concern over a decision which could “promote the dissemination of false information in the run-up to the next referendum in Australia “. Large social networks are under constant pressure from institutions and governments, which pushes them to offer ever more tools for monitoring and moderating violent, abusive or misleading content. In response, Twitter and Meta have therefore implemented tools and measures to mitigate the problem.
Twitter removes a vital function in the fight against misinformation
Mark Zuckerberg and Meta appear to be sticking to their commitment to “cleaning up” their services, even if Facebook still has room for improvement. But Twitter, since the company was bought by Elon Musk seems to go back on his word. Not only the misleading tweet reporting tool is gone in Australia, but moreover, its deployment everywhere else in the world was stopped in its tracks.
As soon as he arrived at the helm of Twitter, Elon Musk fired half of the employees, including the majority of the team of moderators. Because man does not hide it, he is a supporter of freedom of speech. All comments must be accepted on the platform, no matter how misleading they may be. That said, it will always be possible to report content advocating “hate, abuse and harassmentviolent speech, child safety, spam, privacy, self-harm, sensitive media, violence and mistaken identities”.