WASHINGTON, Nov  5, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has

pledged the platform will not devolve into a "free-for-all hellscape," but
experts warn that mass layoffs may deeply impair the social network's ability
to curb misinformation.
       
Twitter on Friday fired roughly half of its 7,500-strong workforce, only
days before next week's midterm elections in the United States, when a spike in
fake content is expected across social media.
       
The cuts, which come after Musk's blockbuster $44 million buyout of the
company, hit multiple divisions, including trust and safety teams that manage
content moderation as well as engineering and machine learning, US reports said.
       
"I would be real careful on this platform in the coming days... about what
you retweet, who you follow, and even your own sense of what's going on," said
Kate Starbird, a disinformation researcher and assistant professor at the
University of Washington.
       
Starbird warned in her own Twitter post of an increased risk of
"impersonation" attempts, "coordinated disinformation by manipulators" and
"hoaxes that attempt to get you to spread falsehoods."
       
Jessica Gonzalez, co-chief executive officer at the nonpartisan group Free
Press, said she was concerned that Twitter's content-moderation efforts could
potentially slacken prior to the election, "when we know social media goes off
the rails to misinform, intimidate and harm voters of color."
       
"Twitter was already a hellscape before Musk took over, and his actions...
will only make it worse," said Gonzalez.
      
 Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity, sought to soothe those
concerns, saying the platform's front-line moderation staff were least impacted
by the cuts and combating harmful misinformation during the midterms was a "top
priority."
       
"While we said goodbye to incredibly talented friends and colleagues... our
core moderation capabilities remain in place," Roth tweeted.
       
- 'Deeply troubling' -
 
       
Free Press is part of a coalition of more than 60 civil society groups that
on Friday called on advertisers to boycott the platform until it committed to
being a "safe place."
      
Members of the coalition met with Musk earlier this week after academic
studies reported a dramatic increase in hate speech, Nazi memes and racist
slurs after his acquisition of the company.
       
One study by Montclair State University found that Twitter's acquisition by
Musk, a self-professed free-speech absolutist, had "created the perception by
extremist users that content restrictions would be alleviated."
       
"We  met with Elon Musk earlier this week to express our profound concerns
about some of his plans and the spike in toxic content after his acquisition,"
said the coalition, which uses the hashtag "Stop Toxic Twitter."
      
 "Since that time, hate and disinformation have continued to proliferate,
and Musk has taken actions that make us fear that the worst is yet to come,"
the group said in a statement.
      
 But Musk rejected that assessment, tweeting that "we have actually seen
hateful speech at times this week decline *below* our prior norms," though he
offered up no data to back up this assertion.
      
 "To be crystal clear, Twitter's strong commitment to content moderation
remains absolutely unchanged," Musk wrote on Friday.
      
 Musk had promised to reduce Twitter's content restrictions, and since the
acquisition has announced plans to create a "content moderation council" that
will review company policies.
      
 "While Musk has publicly committed to transparency, his decision to lay off
the staff members dedicated to this work is deeply troubling," said Zeve
Sanderson, executive director of the New York University's Center for Social
Media and Politics.
      
 Musk insisted that the layoffs were necessary as the company was losing
more than $4 million per day.
       Twitter has long struggled to generate profit and has failed to keep pace
with Facebook, Instagram and TikTok in gaining new users.