Toni Dimaano Tech 11.04.2022 22:Nov PM EDT

‘Election Integrity’ Remains Twitter’s Top Priority Amidst Layoffs

Safety executive at Twitter says that election integrity is not a worry as the company keeps it its top priority, even if it cut half of its staff in the last 24 hours.

The new owner of the social media platform has fired thousands of its employees just ahead of the US midterm elections, Forbes writes.

Twitter's Head Of Safety Shrugs Off Content Moderation Concerns

According to Yoel Roth, while the workforce reduction affected 15% of their Trust and Safety organization, combating harmful information that can affect the votes is still Twitter's top priority.

Roth tweeted this on his account hours after the NAACP joined activist coalitions and civil rights organizations to call for advertisers to stop investing their money on Twitter.

Activists raised their concern that the cuts in Twitter's staff might downplay the promises laid out by Musk to keep the company's protection policies and hate speech rules during the elections.

Engadget writes that Musk believes that firing employees was necessary to reduce the company's daily losses but claims that he is committed to retaining the content moderation policies.

However, the layoffs remain worrying for people as Twitter's curation team, which handles misinformation on the platform, and numerous workers and policy and communications were cut.

On Friday morning, Twitter employees received a notice about their employment statuses, and those that were let go reported that they got locked out of their computers.

Workers have also been unable to access work-related accounts even before receiving email notices from executives.

In a statement issued by the CEO, Musk assures Twitter users that moderators will keep the integrity of the elections since it impacts political discourse in America ahead of the midterm elections.

According to Musk, he might also reinstate certain accounts on the platform to enforce speech freedom on the social media site, Fox Business reports.

While this idea is floating around, it is important to note that the billionaire has not reinstated current bans back on Twitter.

Twitter Could Become Less Trustworthy If It Rolls Out Two New Features After the Firings

Twitter's massive workforce reduction comes after the controversy the company faces regarding the issuance of verification subscription and edit button features.

Because of these features, verified users can change their display on the platform to pose as another person, adding to the potential spread of misinformation.

With the departure of employees tasked to monitor conversations on the platform, information from Twitter might be less reliable due to the false influence the two features might promote.

However, staff at Twitter stay optimistic that the election information and integrity on the platform will still be manageable.

They added that the staff is cautiously confident that the company is in better shape for this year's midterm elections relative to how it was during the 2020 elections.

According to Forbes, Vote.org names the social networking platform the biggest influence on the rise of voter registration on social media during the election cycles.