Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, admits that his company sucks at dealing with online trolls.
In a leaked copy of an internal staff email, Mr Costolo labelled as absurd the social media platform’s ability to deal with cyber bullies under his leadership.
On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 8:35 PM, Dick Costolo wrote:
“We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we’ve sucked at it for years. It’s no secret and the rest of the world talks about it every day. We lose core user after core user by not addressing simple trolling issues that they face every day.
I’m frankly ashamed of how poorly we’ve dealt with this issue during my tenure as CEO. It’s absurd. There’s no excuse for it. I take full responsibility for not being more aggressive on this front. It’s nobody else’s fault but mine, and it’s embarrassing.
We’re going to start kicking these people off right and left and making sure that when they issue their ridiculous attacks, nobody hears them.
Everybody on the leadership team knows this is vital.
“I’m aware that Twitter is well within its rights to let its platform be used as a vehicle for sexist and racist harassment. But, as a private company – just like a comedian mulling over a rape joke, or a troll looking for a target for his anger – it could choose not to. As a collective of human beings, it could choose to be better.”
“We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we’ve sucked at it for years,” The Verge quotes a copy of Mr Costolo’s email as saying.
“I’m frankly ashamed of how poorly we’ve dealt with this issue during my tenure as CEO. It’s absurd.
“There’s no excuse for it. I take full responsibility for not being more aggressive on this front.
“It’s nobody else’s fault but mine, and it’s embarrassing.”
Mr Costolo, who has been in the top job since 2010, made the comments in response to a question on the company’s internal forum about a recent story in the media by writer Lindy West.
Ms West, a regular target of online trolls, was most recently trolled by someone who stole her dead father’s identity.
Mr Costolo said cracking down on trolls was “vital” for Twitter.
“We’re going to start kicking these people off right and left and making sure that when they issue their ridiculous attacks, nobody hears them,” he wrote.
“Everybody on the leadership team knows this is vital”.
Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/technology/2015/02/06/15/16/twitter-boss-admits-to-troll-weakness-in-leaked-email#YWpBHD1aF2QDMjjq.99
