UN urges Elon Musk to uphold human rights on Twitter

Critics have been pouring in since Elon Musk took over Twitter just a week ago. From all sides. His absolute view of freedom of expression is causing such concern that on Saturday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued a reminder on the social network, urging him to ensure that these rights are respected on Twitter.

“Twitter has a responsibility to avoid amplifying content that infringes on people’s rights,” said Volker Turk in his open letter. Adding, in the form of a tackle, that the dismissal of employees dedicated to human rights was “not, from my point of view, an encouraging start”.

The often radical positions taken by the boss of Tesla, but also his decisions are under fire from critics. All week, he assured that content moderation remained a priority, that the rules had not changed, and that he was going to create a council dedicated to this task. “Again, to be perfectly clear, Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged. In fact, we’ve seen hate speech at times this week drop ‘below’ our previous standards, contrary to what you may read in the press,” he replied on the social network on Friday. While getting angry at the same time against the NGOs who “try to destroy freedom of expression in America”.

Twitter Founder’s Regrets

Elon Musk assured that the social network was losing more than four million dollars a day. A financial argument to justify the wave of layoffs he decided. To straighten out the budget of the company he bought for $44 billion, he indicated the redesign of the Twitter Blue subscription, making certain teams work tirelessly, putting their jobs on the line, with the objective of activating potential as of Monday.

The mobile application of Twitter already offers, since Saturday, an update which should soon allow to subscribe to the new formula, for users wishing a certified account and practical advantages. “Get Twitter Blue for $7.99 a month if you sign up now,” says the app, only on iPhones for now.

Currently, this five-dollar subscription packs premium features, like a more comfortable reading mode. Elon Musk wants to add account certification, so far free but reserved for certain accounts. “The current system of lords and peasants, with those who have the blue tick and those who don’t, is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for eight dollars a month,” the Tesla and SpaceX boss said on Tuesday.

On his side, Jack Dorseythe co-founder of Twitter, took the floor to praise the “resilience” of the employees of the platform, while half of the 7,500 employees of the San Francisco group were fired on Friday.

“I realize that many of you are angry with me. I take my responsibilities for all those who are in this situation: I made the company grow too fast. I apologize for this, ”said the man who handed over control of the company a year ago.