Twitter CEO Denounces Claims of Increasingly Harmful Content on Platform, Labels Them “Misleading”
Twitter’s efforts to attract advertisers are being hindered by the harmful content on its platform, according to a Bloomberg report. The article points out that since Elon Musk assumed control of Twitter, there has been a significant increase in hate speech targeting minority communities. In response, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino took to Twitter to refute the article, stating that its conclusions were inaccurate, deceptive, and no longer relevant.
Bloomberg spoke with Callum Hood, director of research at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, for its report. He said: “Musk is not keeping his promises to advertisers, and their ads are appearing next to really harmful content”. He also said that Musk’s claims of a decrease in hate speech impressions “do not hold water,” as his data showed an increase in the amount of hate speech and engagement.
Sharing some numbers, the report also highlighted that insults against black Americans have tripled in the first three months since Musk took control of the social media platform. The LGBTQ+ community also suffered from increased hate speech during this period, the report added.
Linda Yaccarino responds to criticism
Twitter’s CEO wrote a lengthy message to respond to criticism of the Bloomberg article, calling it false, adding that more than 99 percent of the content users and advertisers see on Twitter is healthy. Yaccarino also accused Bloomberg of using misleading information. He said: “Bloomberg’s story compiled a collection of incorrect, misleading and outdated metrics, mostly from shortly after the Twitter acquisition. It also lacks critical context, not to mention critical updates on our progress and operations.
Continuing, he said Twitter has come a long way and made consistent progress to make Twitter a safer place for users. The platform has also given advertisers more control over where their ads appear. He added that in the next two weeks, Twitter will expand its ad placement into the video feed because of its increased popularity.
“Every other platform will tell you that the work is never done. That’s true for them and for Twitter. But Twitter’s progress is real, and we’ve been transparent about it and we’re proud of it. And we just wanted you to know the facts,” he concluded.
Yaccarino’s long tweet, along with a similar long post from the Twitter Business account, reveals how seriously Twitter takes any comments that might push advertisers away. And this is not without reason.
When advertisers left the platform, Musk focused on the Twitter Blue subscription as a solution. However, it didn’t work, as he recently revealed in a tweet: “We are still cash flow negative due to ~50% decline in ad revenue and heavy debt load”.
Many had argued that the hiring of Yaccarino as the company’s CEO was a step in that direction, as he led global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal before taking the role.
A Financial Times report highlighted that building Twitter’s short video feed and running full-length video ads on it was his idea to increase ad exposure and bring more advertisers back to the platform.
