Twitter has repeatedly been criticized for not being able to contain online abuse and harassment. Dick Costolo apologized for the inconvenience in the past when he was Twitter’s CEO, and now, once again he has apologized for the issue that has forced several users to quit the platform.
Costolo apologizes abuse again on Twitter
Twitter is being rampantly used for bullying and trolling, something which hasn’t been curbed as yet. Costolo admitted that he regrets not being able to curb online abuse on the social network sooner.
“I wish I could turn back the clock and go back to 2010 and stop abuse on the platform by creating a very specific bar for how to behave on the platform,” Costolo said at the Upfront Summit conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to Axios. “I take responsibility for not taking the bull by the horns,” said Costolo, who is not the company’s founder, and hence, he thought it wasn’t possible for him to make such a bold move.
Costolo said he is ashamed to think of the poor ways of dealing with these issues during his tenure as CEO.
“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,” he said.
Such comments about abuse on the platform from Costolo — Twitter’s chief from 2010 until 2015 — have been heard in the past as well, notes CNET. Costolo wrote a series of internal memos in February 2015, saying the company didn’t respond adequately to the incessant harassment, and he personally felt responsible that it drove users away.
Would Costolo have affected the way Trump tweets?
A question that comes up now is whether if Costolo had been aggressive enough then, it have changed the way President Donald Trump tweets. The 45th President of the United States has a bad reputation for re-tweeting racist Twitter accounts. In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump mocked New York Senator Charles Schumer for his objection to his immigration ban.
“To be fair, while his tweets may rub some people the wrong way, Trump doesn’t appear to have violated any of Twitter’s rules,” says NBC News.
This, however, doesn’t mean that Trump is above the rules. No special protection will be granted if he is found guilty of violating Twitter’s rules on violent threats, hateful conduct and harassment.
In November, when asked if the rules will be enforced on Trump, a Twitter spokesperson replied, “The Twitter Rules apply to all accounts, including verified accounts.”
