The first step to seeking help is admitting you have a problem.
That’s what Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, did today when he admitted that the popular social media platform has a serious problem with online harassment, abuse and trolls.
In a series of threaded tweets, Dorsey wrote that the company “didn’t fully predict or understand the real-world negative consequences” of its global messaging and conversation service, and that the company has “witnessed abuse, harassment, troll armies, manipulation through bots and human-coordination, misinformation campaigns and increasingly divisive echo chambers.”
We’re committing Twitter to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation, and to hold ourselves publicly accountable towards progress.
— jack (@jack) March 1, 2018
Dorsey notes that Twitter is not proud of how certain people have “taken advantage” of the platform, nor is it proud about its inability to address it in a timely manner.
Since October 2017, the company has been implementing new guidelines and rules to curb the numerous incidents of online harassment and abuse that plague the site. This includes prohibiting offensive usernames and hateful images and banning violence and hate groups.
Dorsey’s post also outlines Twitter’s upcoming approach to promote healthier debate and conversation. It’s working with the media analytic company Cortico and a data team called Social Machines to measure the “health” of conversations occurring on the site.
Twitter is also opening up its efforts to the public, allowing users to submit proposals on how best the site can encourage civil public conversation. Applicants must apply by April 13 and the winning team will receive public data access and funding to start the project with Twitter.
