Twitter, under CEO Elon Musk, has disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, which was founded in 2016 to advise the site on issues such as hate speech, child exploitation and suicide, The Associated Press reported.
A council member anonymously told CNN that Musk disbanded the council in an email sent less than an hour before it was to meet with Twitter representatives.
What did the Trust and Safety Council do?
According to the council’s “about” page that no longer exists on Twitter’s website, the Trust and Safety Council was a “group of independent expert organizations from around the world.”
The page explains that that council was made up of several different advisory groups dedicated to issues like “online safety and harassment, human and digital rights, suicide prevention and mental health, child sexual exploitation, and dehumanization.”
The council did not have decision-making abilities, but rather served as advisors to Twitter.
Why did Elon Musk disband the Trust and Safety Council?
In an email sent to the council, Twitter explained that the site is “reevaluating how best to bring external insights into our product and policy development work.”
“As part of this process, we have decided that the Trust and Safety Council is not the best structure to do this,” the email, which was posted to Twitter by CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan, continued.
The email, signed “Twitter,” states that it welcomes council members’ ideas “going forward,” but Twitter will be exploring other options for external insights and advice.