Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to reports, according to Elon Musk's order, Twitter has removed a feature in the past few days that recommends suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users when viewing specific content.

Twitter's head of trust and security, Ella Irwin, told reporters after the news broke: "We've been fixing and improving these tips, but we're only temporarily removing this feature in the process. "

"It is expected to resume next week. "she added.

The latest news shows that the function has been restored.

Called #ThereIsHelp, this feature displays contact information for many support organizations related to mental health, AIDS, vaccines, child sexual deprivation, COVID-19, gender-based violence, natural disasters, and free speech at the top of certain search results. However, no media reports have previously reported that this feature has been removed.

There are concerns that removing the feature could negatively impact vulnerable groups who use Twitter. Musk said that since he joined Twitter last October, the presence of harmful content on the platform has been declining, and he shared a chart to illustrate the decline. But researchers and civil rights groups have seen an increase in tweets with racial discrimination and other hateful content.

Under pressure from consumer safety groups, internet services including Twitter, Google and Facebook direct users to prominent resource providers such as government hotlines when they detect that they may be in danger.

"Google's search results are doing a great job of this, and we hope to emulate some of their practices by tweaking," Twitter's Irving said in an email. "

She added: "We know that these tips are useful in many cases, we just want to make sure that these functions function properly and continue to be relevant. "

Eirliani Abdul Rahman, who served on the recently disbanded Twitter Content Advisory Group, is "extremely upset" by the disappearance of #ThereIsHelp.

She said that even if it is only temporarily removed to improve the function,"usually it will be improved simultaneously, not deleted."

AIDS United, a Washington-based AIDS relief group, and iLaw, a Thai free-speech advocacy group, both promoted under #TheIsHelp, were surprised by the feature's disappearance on Friday.

AIDS United said that as of December 18, the Twitter feature was associated with pages that attracted about 70 views per day. But since then, the total number of views has only been 14.

People familiar with the matter say millions of people have seen #ThereIsHelp messages in the course of using Twitter.

Twitter launched this promotion about five years ago, with some content reaching more than 30 countries. In a blog post about the feature, Twitter said it is their responsibility to ensure users can "access our services and get support" when they need it most.

Alex Goldenberg, chief intelligence analyst at the nonprofit Network Contagion Research Institute, said the cues you saw in search results a few days ago were gone Thursday.

A study he and his colleagues published in August showed that Twitter mentions of self-harm words increased by more than 500 percent each month compared to a year ago, and that young users were particularly at risk when they saw such content.

"If this decision symbolizes that they are no longer taking these issues seriously, it is very dangerous. Goldenberg said,"This runs counter to Musk's previous commitment to prioritizing child safety. "

Musk has said he wants to crack down on child sexual abuse on Twitter and criticized previous management for handling the issue. But he has made significant cuts to the team that handles potentially objectionable content.

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