[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Twitter and Meta, which are undergoing massive layoffs, have been criticized for their inadequate response to fake news related to the U.S. midterm elections due to a shortage of essential personnel, major foreign media reported on the 9th (local time).
Foreign media pointed out that Twitter, after CEO Elon Musk of Tesla acquired the company, pushed through intense restructuring that cut half of its employees, including essential staff responsible for content moderation, resulting in insufficient measures.
After completing the acquisition of Twitter on the 27th of last month, Musk dismissed the entire existing management and board of directors, and on the 4th, just four days before the midterm elections, announced the layoff of half of the 7,500 employees.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, also reduced its election team months ahead of the elections. Meta's layoffs amounted to 11,000 employees, about 13% of its total workforce. This is the largest layoff in Meta's history and the biggest among Silicon Valley companies.
The New York Times (NYT) reported that these moves by Twitter and Meta contrast with YouTube, which has reinforced its election-related workforce with more than 10,000 personnel ahead of the U.S. midterm elections and Brazil's presidential election to manage election-related content.
Currently, on Twitter, fake news and conspiracy theories related to vote counting results are rampant, especially in battleground states like Nevada and Arizona, where the counting process is not yet complete.
The congressional watchdog group Common Cause pointed out that Twitter's recent mass layoffs of essential personnel have delayed the company's response to the spread of such fake news. It also reported that during the process of tracking content dissemination routes, Twitter has left posts suspected of misinformation unattended without any action.
On election day, a conspiracy theory rapidly spread on Twitter claiming that "voting machines are being manipulated via the internet, and the detection of Wi-Fi networks at polling stations is evidence of this."
Twitter explained that the layoff rate for the team responsible for content moderation and management was lower than average, but under the current Musk administration, there is a growing perception that content moderation has been weakened, encouraging the spread of false information.
On the 5th, Musk acknowledged that Twitter's advertising revenue sharply declined due to concerns over content moderation but stated, "Nothing has changed regarding content moderation."
Yoel Roth, Twitter's Head of Content Management Policy, tweeted on the 8th, the day of the midterm elections, that "we are complying with policies on harmful content" and that "harmful content in search results has decreased by 95% since Musk's acquisition." Musk also emphasized that he would aggressively respond to block fake accounts that produce fake news.
The White House also expressed concern about the spread of election-related fake news. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said regarding the news of mass layoffs of employees responsible for content moderation at Twitter, "President Joe Biden has emphasized the importance of social media platforms taking action to reduce hate speech and misinformation."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
