Stop harassment, monetization and edit button: this is how Elon Musk could improve Twitter | Technology

Tycoon Elon Musk promises to revolutionize the most influential social network on the planet. His entry into the Twitter headquarters carrying a sink —a resounding metaphor with a play on words— and the sudden dismissal of the main managers as soon as he landed suggests resounding changes in the management of a platform that has been transcendental in the way in which they express themselves world leaders, news is reported, brands are sold, and cultural memes are spread. For once, Musk abandoned his usual trolls and became serious to explain it’s a statement his “motivation” for acquiring the company: “I didn’t do it because it was easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it for humanity, which I love.” And he added: “It is important for the future of civilization to have a common digital public square.”

The problem, obviously, is that not everyone agrees on what that public square should be like, nor how to make it beneficial for “civilization”. While the richest man in the world respond to requests of some users, EL PAÍS has contacted specialists in different areas of the digital world and also renowned tweeters to imagine how they would improve that square that Musk is talking about. From stopping threats to financially incentivizing content creators, these are their proposals:

Mariluz Congosto (@congosto)

The researcher Mariluz Congosto, a specialist in the analysis of the behavior of Twitter users, shows misgivings about the plans of the new owner of the company. “I am very pessimistic with the arrival of Elon Musk on Twitter. I think the moderation is going to be more lax, which will imply more tension”, she underlines via email. From her perspective, Twitter moderates badly: “It gives too much weight to complaints without analyzing whether they are organized.”

This social network analyst from the Carlos III University maintains that, in Spain, there are two groups at the ideological extremes, which are the ones that suspend most accounts, and transparency is lacking. “The criteria for deciding whether a tweet violates the rules is also unclear. Finally, the appeal system is slow and arbitrary”, concludes Congosto.

Borja Adsuara (@adsuara)

Digital Law professor Borja Adsuara hopes that Musk will keep his word not to delete tweets or profiles: “He promised users that he would be much more respectful of freedom of expression. And that is what we users are waiting for. Not as an expert anymore, but as a tweeter: I do not agree that Twitter and other platforms like Instagram and Facebook have gone from being neutral platforms where they were not responsible for user content to deciding what content is allowed or not. Who is Twitter or any social network to say what is true and what is a lie? That is what freedom of expression and information is for, and the media, with different editorial lines.”

With regard to the risk that this may pose for the spread of fake news, Adsuara argues that analyzing whether a piece of news is true or false one by one is very complicated. “What needs to be done is to dismantle artificial disinformation campaigns that use fake accounts or bots,” she says.

Anne Shepherd (@_anapastor_)

The journalist and founder of Newtral is a frequent target of orchestrated attacks on the social network: “For the first time in more than 10 years, I have had to close the comments on my account. First there were the campaigns of the far right and now the far left. But also for years it has been common to read the word ‘whore’ or people who wish me death in my timeline. Clearly, we have gone for the worse, ”she laments. And he tells what should change, from his own experience: “I have come to report to the Police a guy who wanted me the least serious thing was a gang rape. And nothing happened. I don’t know if the solution is to eliminate the anonymity of the accounts, because I know that anonymity is a way of survival in countries where freedom of expression is persecuted. Perhaps to avoid harassment and polarization, Twitter should use all the technology it has in the detection and elimination of those new accounts created for harassment.

And he denounces: “They are doing something, but from my point of view it is insufficient and that makes me think that perhaps the noise interests them to sustain their business model.” In addition, Pastor believes that the platform “should take the fight against hoaxes and disinformation more seriously.” “When he has made a decision, as happened with Donald Trump [a quien Twitter cerró la cuenta]to give an example, does so without a clear, transparent or coherent outline of the reasons”, he laments.

Gemma Galdon-Clavell (@gemmagaldon)

The director of the algorithm auditing company Eticas Tech argues that platforms like Twitter should ensure that global opinion spaces are free, but responsibly. “Resources must be invested to make it a healthy communication space, where hateful, toxic or illegal content is not amplified. All platforms have tried to automate these processes and we have seen that automation does not work well”, says Gemma Galdón-Clavell. And she adds: “I fear that Musk’s intentions go completely against that need, both to invest more and to ensure that it is a space where opinion, personal data and users are not commercialized.”

The expert in matters related to ethics and technology argues that finding the balance between freedom of expression and the freedom of each person to “not feel violated” is very complex. “Who should lay the foundations for that balance is the public space, it is politics. And since he hasn’t, we have a very anomalous space where it’s the platforms that decide who speaks and who doesn’t. That is terribly dangerous for democratic systems. We understand that major or collective decisions must be taken from the parliaments and not from the boards of private companies”, she defends.

Manuel Bartual (@ManuelBartual)

As a screenwriter, Bartual achieved unprecedented success by developing a real-time fiction narrated on Twitter, a mystery story that kept hundreds of thousands of users on edge. And his proposals move in that plane, that of encouraging content creators to develop their creativity on the platform: “Many people would appreciate a monetization program similar to the one offered by YouTube. There are many Twitter users creating content for the platform on a regular basis and whose only way to get revenue from their work is through sponsored content or actions that they develop in parallel, such as the publication of books or collaborations in the media”, he laments. “If Twitter guaranteed an income to all those creators, they could focus on growing professionally without moving away from the platform. And this is something that would be beneficial to everyone: Twitter, the creators and the audience”, summarizes Bartual.

In addition, he considers that “the real pending issue is not Twitter, but us. We are in 2022, but we are still digital troglodytes. The solutions that I read to improve the public conversation and try to avoid cases of harassment or lynching usually go through limiting freedom of expression, and I do not think that is a door that we should open. Bartual proposes another approach: “You have to go to the root of the problem and invest in digital education. The day that everyone understands that behind every at sign there is a person will be when we will achieve a much healthier Twitter”.

Lucia Taboada (@TaboadaLucia)

This journalist from Cadena SER, well known on Twitter for her humorous tweets linked to current affairs, calls for more work against the problem of hoaxes: “What I would like, which seems not to happen, is for Twitter to more strongly limit the fake news; that more barriers be put up against disinformation. I say it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen because all of Musk’s messages so far have been about just the opposite: being more lenient with moderation policies. In fact, he recently tweeted that the “bird flies free”, a fairly obvious metaphor in that sense. Musk has not only acquired Twitter for economic profitability, but also to control the global conversation.

Taboada adds another already mythical request among users: “Where a minipoint could be scored is by establishing a button to edit tweets, a historical claim by tweeters, especially those who community managers clumsy. I think that here I would have a lot of consensus because we have all fallen into Twitter errors.

Ferdinand of Cordoba (@gamusino)

Brand strategist Fernando de Córdoba would make several changes, starting by facilitating access to company personnel, so that content creators can solve their problems with the help of humans: “I would fight more against harassment, plagiarism and everything related to harassment and humiliation. It would also give greater support to companies, advertisers and content creators. It is ridiculous that a person can lose their account because a few detractors agree to take it down. In addition, he laments that “even if you have hundreds of thousands of followers or a verified account, there is no personal attention” on the platform. “It’s what Twitter needs the most,” he says. “There are small details of important functionalities, but the main thing that should be fixed are the issues of harassment and that they can be throw bills,” he insists.

Alvaro Ortigosa (@a_ortigosa)

The director of the Center for Research in Forensic and Security Sciences (ICFS-UAM) Álvaro Ortigosa defends that, as a user, he is happy with Twitter and that he would be “cautious” about making changes. However, he considers that the big problem is the automated accounts that generate suspicious content on a large scale: “I understand that there must be a firm decision, a clear will to combat bots. It is at this point where I believe that Elon Musk and those who have decision-making power should intervene, ”explains this specialist in detecting this type of account. “This is not easy, because Twitter believes that a large part of the success of the platform lies in the possibility of implementing bots. Technically, there are several alternatives that might not eliminate them completely, but they would make it very difficult for them to work, ”he says.

Lucas Melcon, aka MALACARA (@malacarasev)

Sevillian Lucas Melcón, known online as MALACARA for his humorous content with an Andalusian accent, agrees in part with Bartual that creators who fill Twitter with content must be protected: “People who create things honestly and dedicate themselves to this should have more platform support. Take care of those of us who are at the foot of the canyon, that in the end we are the ones who generate the traffic that gives them work; That must be defended like someone who defends the rights of workers, who creates wealth? ”, He claims.

In addition, it highlights the need to “humanize the platform and persecute people who tell lies.” “Twitter, in addition to being a social network, is a means of communication and must abide by the rules: it cannot say ‘I wash my hands here’. There has to be rigor and whoever does not comply with the rules, to the damn street, ”he demands.

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