Twitter has long been used as a medium of abuse by many, but now the CEO is serious about checking it after several users quit the site
Twitter’s policies on harassment and abuse have long been criticized, and the company’s CEO, Dick Costolo, takes all the responsibility for it, according to a leaked internal memo obtained by The Verge. Costolo wrote in the memo that he got his motivation after there were several quits by avid and popular users.
Costolo acknowledges Twitter’s failure
The Twitter CEO wrote that the simple trolling issues faced by users have not been addressed by the company as they should have been, and this was the reason for the company losing its core users one after another.
“We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we’ve sucked at it for years,” Costolo said. “It’s no secret and the rest of the world talks about it every day.”
There is an issue that has not been a topic of discussion inside Twitter but has been being discussed outside for several years. In the memo, Costolo also said the company has not taken the issue very seriously and that it needs to be changed for good. Even though Twitter was criticized for the trolling issue, it took only cursory efforts to address the issue.
Recent troll incidents on Twitter
Costolo’s comments were mainly in response to the abuse faced by Lindy West, who is a prolific and outspoken author on women’s issues.
West’s confrontation with a troll took place when a fake Twitter account was created in the name of West’s recently deceased father and was to torment her by using intimate details of the life of her father. Trolls gained a lot of attention after the Gamergate incident that was related to the video games. Following the incident, women have often been the target of abuse on Twitter.
Another incident took place with Zelda Williams, who was targeted soon after the death of her father, Robin Williams. This led her to deleting her account, saying, “I’m sorry. I should’ve risen above. Deleting this from my devices for a good long time, maybe forever. Time will tell. Goodbye.”
