Twitter Reportedly knew Spaces Could be Misused Due To The Absence Of Moderation

Since the launch of Twitter Spaces earlier this year, hundreds of people are said to have participated in live audio discussions led by “Taliban supporters, white nationalists, and anti-vaccine activists sowing coronavirus misinformation.” According to The Washington Post, before launching the Clubhouse competitor, Twitter lacked the moderation tools needed to combat bullying, calls for violence, and hate speech in Spaces — despite executives knowing that this would likely lead to abuse.

Spaces does not have human moderators or audio monitoring technology that can monitor audio in real time. Audio is much more difficult to review automatically than text. Twitter has so far relied on the community to report Spaces that they believe violate the company’s rules. However, if a host uses the feature as a soapbox to express transphobic, racist, or other bigoted views (as has been reported), and their audience agrees, it appears unlikely that a listener will report the discussion to Twitter’s safety team.

According to the report, Twitter’s technology aided in the spread of some of these discussions. Because these Spaces were attracting large crowds, the systems recognized them as popular and promoted them to more users. Twitter spokesperson Viviana Wiewall told the Post the supposed bug has been dealt with.

“Ensuring people’s safety and encouraging healthy conversations, while assisting hosts and listeners to control their experience, have been key priorities since [Spaces‘] inception,” Wiewall told the publication. Wiewall stated that the company is “exploring avenues” for real-time Space moderating, but “it’s not something that we have available at this time.”

Twitter had some safeguards in place, according to the spokesperson. It can scan the titles of Spaces for keywords that raise red flags, but modified spellings can ensure that problematic words slip through the cracks.

Employees at Twitter are said to have expressed concerns about unmoderated live audio rooms, but some of those who suggested the company slow down and focus on technology to improve safety were reportedly dismissed or left out of meetings. Leaders pushed ahead with the Spaces feature anyway, ostensibly to appease investors by hastening product development and increasing revenue.

Hosts who meet certain criteria have been able to charge for access to Spaces since August, with Twitter taking a cut. Aside from advertising, the company has been pursuing other revenue streams, such as newsletters and the Twitter Blue premium subscription. Some of those products have also had problems. Certain types of PayPal transactions exposed some tippers’ home addresses via the Tip Jar feature, which allows users to send payments to each other as tips.

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