Musk Continues to Skirt Controversy as Twitter Works to Reassure Regulatory Groups and Ad Partners

Latest Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino is actually getting the total Elon Musk experience in her first weeks on the app, as the corporate works to fulfill evolving regional enforcement demands, while Musk himself continues to skirt controversy via his own tweets.

This week, each Yaccarino and Musk are meeting with EU Privacy Commissioner Thierry Breton, together with EU Commission assessors, to debate how Twitter is placed with regard to meeting its commitments to the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

Twitter withdrew from the EU’s voluntary Code of Practice on online disinformation, last month, which is a component of the DSA – though on the time, Musk noted that Twitter remained committed to the EU code, including its recent requirements on policing disinformation, although it had opted out of this voluntary element.

Musk’s long-held stance is that Twitter will obey the laws of every region, but is not going to transcend the law for any reason. As such, the voluntary code could possibly be viewed as going further than what’s obligatory – though Musk has also met with EU leaders, and Breton himself, several times to reiterate his desire to work with them to make sure Twitter’s compliance as required.

It’ll be interesting to see how this week’s meeting and review pans out, and the way Twitter’s scaled back workforce is meeting these requirements. If it’s not, you may expect EU officials to take further steps to sanction the app, which could potentially result in fines, and even bans, if Twitter fails to act.

And that’s not the one place that Twitter could possibly be facing operational challenges, with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner also calling on the corporate to offer a proof of the way it plans to tackle the rise of hate speech within the app, based on the increasing rate of reports to the Commissioner’s office.

As reported by The Guardian:

“Australia’s eSafety commissioner says Twitter has ‘dropped the ball’ on tackling online hate, and has issued a legal notice to the social media giant demanding a proof about what it’s doing concerning the scourge. The commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said there have been more complaints about online hate on Twitter up to now 12 months than another platform, and complaints have spiked since Elon Musk’s takeover of the corporate in October.”

Twitter itself maintains that exposure to hate speech has declined significantly since Musk took over on the app, though the actual rate of such has been revised of late in Twitter’s own reporting.

Back in March, Twitter reported that hate speech impressions had been reduced by 50% consequently of changes led by Musk, but in an interview last week, Musk himself stated that hate speech visibility has declined by 30% for the reason that acquisition.

Each are impressive results, but there’s also a big variance in reporting here, with Twitter’s hate speech exposure numbers seemingly increasing by almost half over the past three months.

Could that be the results of Twitter allowing previously banned users back into the app via Musk’s ‘amnesty’ program, or perhaps that is reflective of Twitter’s recent ‘freedom of speech, not freedom of reach’ approach, which goals to scale back the printed range of offensive comments, versus removing them outright?

It’s not possible to say without the actual reporting data, which is barely available internally, but seemingly, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner believes that Twitter’s not doing enough, and has alluded to this happening consequently of Twitter’s staff cuts – though it’s also value noting that Musk also claimed this week that Twitter’s staffing numbers on this area actually haven’t been significantly reduced since he took over on the app.

In any event, Twitter faces penalties of nearly $700,000 a day for continuing breaches if it fails to deal with the Commission’s concerns.

So, Yaccarino has some pretty big issues to deal with, while also working to alleviate advertiser concerns around these same elements, which have prompted some key Twitter ad partners to pause their ad spend, though many are actually coming back.

Just to maintain things spicy, Musk has also added one other element into the combo, by stating that the usage of the terms ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ will now be considered slurs by Twitter’s team in the event that they’re utilized in an abusive or harassing way.

Musk has further clarified that users is not going to get suspended for simply using these terms, ‘but their post will see much less reach, as it’s going to not be advisable to others’ in the event that they’re found to be using such in a negative context.

Very similar to Musk’s recent comments concerning the misuse of tweet replies at no cost promoting, this isn’t an official rule as yet, and the wording of such shall be essential in assessing exactly what this implies in context. But it surely’s one other stance that might prompt concerns amongst ad partners, as to how Twitter is seeking to implement its rules on divisive and controversial issues – though the elemental principle here, that gender terminology mustn’t be used as a way for abuse, is sensible.

But it surely’s one other consideration set to spark debate, and coverage based on Musk’s stances, which Yaccarino will now be tasked with managing as she looks to secure more ad spend.

Clearly, Musk isn’t going to carry back on his opinions, as he’s repeatedly stated he won’t, and that may remain a balancing block for Yaccarino in her mission to administer the corporate.

Which can remain difficult – but however, the Twitter 2.0 team seems confident that they’ll have the option to make use of video to construct a platform that’ll eventually be so big that advertisers won’t have the option to disregard it either way.

Possibly that’s the way in which forward, but regardless, Twitter will still need to fulfill its regional requirements, and ensure compliance with each jurisdiction on this front.

Oh, also, Elon’s challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match to resolve their differences, which Zuckerberg has accepted via his Instagram profile.

Zuckerberg recently won several medals in his first jiu-jitsu tournament, so my money could be on Mr. Metaverse if this actually goes ahead.