Twitter Starts Combining Teams To Combat Toxic Content And Spam Bots

Twitter Inc is merging teams that concentrate on eliminating toxic material and spam bots, following complaints from a former executive that the firm failed to execute either job adequately.

According to an email to employees, the social media company will combine its health experience team, which works on reducing misinformation and harmful content, with the Twitter service team, which is responsible for reviewing profiles that users report and removing spam accounts, into a new group called "Health Products and Services (HPS)." Ella Irwin, vice president of product for health and Twitter service, who joined the business in June, will lead the new group.

"We need teams to focus on specific challenges, working as one team and no longer functioning in silos," Irwin said in an email to employees, adding that the team will "ruthlessly prioritise" its initiatives. The formation of the HPS team becomes more important as the organisation faces different challenges. Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, a former security head and well-known hacker, has accused the corporation of misled federal authorities about its protections against hackers and spam accounts.

It is suing Tesla Inc's CEO, Elon Musk, as the world's richest man seeks to back out of a $44 billion plan to purchase the firm, accusing Twitter of concealing information on how it estimates spam accounts. Twitter claimed on Tuesday that Zatko's charges were intended to garner attention and cause harm to the company, and that it stands by its statements about spam and bot accounts.

Twitter is also working to strengthen its defences against the dissemination of disinformation ahead of the November midterm elections in the United States. A Twitter representative said that the restructure of the toxic content and spam teams "reflects our continuous commitment to prioritise and focus our teams in pursuit of our goals."

Employees have also departed Twitter after the months-long spat with Musk. In recent months, high-ranking executives such as Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck, who supervised consumer product and sales, have left the firm. According to two employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity, teams responsible for decreasing hazardous or poisonous content have recently been struck hard by personnel departures. At least one employee stated that the restructuring had no discernible influence on their job.