Instability at Twitter following Elon Musk's takeover threatens to "reverse years of progress" in tackling terrorism on the platform. That was the warning from experts after Musk cut thousands of staff, with a number of key managers overseeing safety and content leaving the company.
Adam Hadley, executive director of UN-backed safety group Tech Against Terrorism, is concerned about the effect that diminished content moderation could have on national security for countries all over the world. He said: "I urge Elon Musk and Twitter’s senior leadership to reaffirm their commitment to tackling the terrorist use of the internet.
“We recognise that moderation of terrorist content is a significant challenge even for the most sophisticated tech platforms. We are concerned that any real or perceived erosion of content moderation capability on the larger social media platforms threatens reverse years of progress and could further embolden terrorists and violent extremists to return.”
Mr Musk has suggested he aims to reduce moderation and censorship on the platform, allowing "free speech" to flourish. He has also suggested he could allow previously banned accounts to return.
Mr Hadley said: "We are concerned that changes to content moderation at Twitter will send a troubling signal to terrorists and violent extremists seeking to exploit the platform. In our routine monitoring at Tech Against Terrorism, some violent extremists, once banned, are now expressing plans to be back.
“Twitter has spent the last five years striving to thwart terrorist and violent extremist content. We note that Twitter has said in the past few days that ‘core moderation capabilities’ will be maintained. Nowhere is this more crucial than in the moderation of terrorist and violent extremist content.”
It comes just days after experts in the UK warned that Twitter was in “real and present danger” from extremism and hate and reported an increase in hate groups and accounts making efforts to return to the platform in the wake of Mr Musk’s takeover. Mr Hadley expressed particular concern about the specialist staff who were leaving Twitter.
“Even over the past week, we have discovered that key members of the Policy and Trust and Safety teams at Twitter have left their roles,” he said. "Right across the tech sector we’re seeing emails bouncing back at a time when we need to collaborate.
"Experts in content moderation have built decades of vital experience and have shown leadership as terrorists continuously attempt to exploit loopholes in tech platforms and so we are concerned this capability could take a significant amount of time to rebuild once lost.”