Twitter reportedly removed a feature promoting suicide prevention hotlines and similar safety resources for an unannounced makeover.
Reuters quoted two people familiar with the matter as saying that the move was affected by the Elon Musk.
The #ThereIsHelp feature, which displays contact details of support groups and charities when users search for any relevant term, is thought to have been removed in the past few days.
It facilitates the work of many national organizations, including those working to support mental health, natural disasters, coronavirus vaccines and free speech.
TwitterThe company’s head of security, Ella Irwin, told Reuters the feature had been “temporarily removed” while the company was “fixing and improving our prompts.”
“We expect them to return to normal next week,” she added.
“We know these tips are useful in many situations and just want to make sure they work and continue to be relevant.”
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The feature’s removal was reportedly ordered by Elon Musk
“very disturbing”
The abrupt removal of the feature 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 sudden disappearance of #ThereIsHelp was “extremely disturbing and deeply disturbing”.
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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Musk has yet to comment on the feature’s removal.
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.