“On Twitter, every voice has the power to shape the world. We see this power every day, from activists who use Twitter to mobilize citizens to content creators who use Twitter to shape opinion.”
That’s Twitter’s opening in a blog post describing its latest venture — a new Twitter Trust & Safety Council — designed to “ensure people can continue to express themselves freely and safely on Twitter.”
“With hundreds of millions of Tweets sent per day, the volume of content on Twitter is massive, which makes it extraordinarily complex to strike the right balance between fighting abuse and speaking truth to power,” says Patricia Cartes, Head of Global Policy Outreach for Twitter. “It requires a multi-layered approach where each of our 320 million users has a part to play, as do the community of experts working for safety and free expression.”
Twitter says it developed the Council to be global and inclusive. Its list of inaugural members includes:
- Safety advocates, academics, and researchers focused on minors, media literacy, digital citizenship, and efforts around greater compassion and empathy on the Internet
- Grassroots advocacy organizations that rely on Twitter to build movements and momentum
- Community groups with an acute need to prevent abuse, harassment, and bullying, as well as mental health and suicide prevention.
The list of more than 40 organizations and experts from 13 regions joining as new members of the Council are listed in the blog post and include the Anti-Defamation League, Bravehearts, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Childnet, ConnectSafely, the Crisis Text Line, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, EU Kids Online, Family Online Safety Institute, Fundacion para la Libertad de Prensa, iKeepSafe, the Internet Watch Foundation, the National Cyber Security Alliance, National Domestic Violence Hotline, Reachout, The Wahid Institute, the UK Safer Internet Centre, and others.
