Twitter is also preparing to strengthen its defenses against the spread of misinformation.
Twitter Inc. is combining teams that work on reducing toxic content and spam bots, according to a staff memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday, amid accusations from a former executive that the company failed to function well. failed.
The social media company will combine its Health Experience team, which works on reducing misinformation and harmful content, with the Twitter Services team, which is responsible for reviewing profiles that users report and removing spam accounts . The new group will be called “Health Products and Services (HPS),” according to an email to employees.
Ella Irwin, vice president of product for health and Twitter Services, who joined the company in June, will lead the HPS team.
“We need teams to focus on specific problems, work together as a team and no longer work in silos,” Irwin wrote in an email to employees, adding that the team will continue its projects. ruthlessly prioritized”.
Building an HPS team assumes greater importance as the company is challenged on multiple fronts. Peter “Mudge” Zatko, a former security chief and well-known hacker, has accused the company of misleading federal regulators about its defenses against hackers and spam accounts.
Twitter is battling Tesla Inc.’s chief executive, Elon Musk, in court as the world’s richest man attempts to walk away from a $44 billion deal to buy the company, alleging that it uses spam accounts. How does the calculation.
Twitter said Tuesday that Zatko’s allegations were intended to draw attention to and harm the company, and has said it stands by its disclosures on spam and bot accounts.
Twitter is preparing to strengthen its defense against the spread of misinformation ahead of the US midterm election due in November.
A Twitter spokesperson said the “restructuring of the Toxic Content and Spam teams” reflects our continued commitment to prioritizing, and focusing on, our teams in pursuit of our goals.
The move also comes as high-ranking executives including Kyvan Baccour and Bruce Falk, who oversee consumer products and revenue, have left the company in recent months amid chaos with Musk.
The teams responsible for reducing harmful or toxic materials have been hit hard by the recent employee departures, according to two employees who spoke on condition of anonymity.
At least one current employee said the restructuring did not have a significant impact on his job.
A former employee who worked on security at Twitter said he was not optimistic that the reshuffle would lead to an improvement, as the roots of the company’s problems with spam accounts are historically deeper than a team could manage on its own. Is. He declined to be named for fear of adversely affecting future employment opportunities.
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