Elon Musk has insisted that the feature on Twitter promoting suicide prevention hotlines and similar safety resources has not been removed, following reports that the feature was shut down due to an unannounced makeover.
Responding to claims first reported by Reuters, the billionaire said: “This news is actually out there. It’s fake news. Twitter doesn’t prevent suicide.”
Although the platform’s head of security, Ira Owen, told Reuters the feature had been “temporarily removed” while the company was “fixing and modifying our prompts”.
“We expect them to return to normal next week,” she added.
The #ThereIsHelp feature, which is believed to display contact information for support groups and charities when users search for any relevant term, has been removed in recent days.
It facilitates the work of many national organizations, including those working to support mental health, natural disasters, coronavirus vaccines and free speech.
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There’s no point trying to craft Musk’s Twitter strategy
The feature’s removal was reportedly ordered by Elon Musk
“very disturbing”
The controversy comes less than two weeks after Musk — and he’s looking for someone succeeding him as CEO of twitter Two months after taking office – Disband the platform’s trust and safety committee.
Three members of the committee have announced their resignations, saying in a condemning public statement that “contrary to Elon Musk’s claims, the safety and well-being of Twitter users is declining”.
Eirliani Abdul Rahman, a former member, said the apparent disappearance of #ThereIsHelp was “extremely disturbing and deeply troubling”.
Even with improvements, features like this usually stay online rather than being removed entirely, he said.
Some of the groups promoted by the feature said it was taken by surprise by its removal, with one – AIDS United – reporting a sharp drop in traffic to pages linked to by #ThereIsHelp.
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The SpaceX and Tesla boss spoke about his commitment to ensuring Twitter remains a safe platform for users, with a specific focus on combating child sexual abuse content.
but many of them he enforced thousands of layoffs Affected the relevant teams of the platform.