ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Despite Stance, Twitter Secretly Filtered Abusive Tweets to Obama 

Ex-Twitter CEO had secretly ordered employees to filter out hateful replies to Obama during 2015 town hall meeting.

Published
World
1 min read
story-hero-img
i
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large
Hindi Female

Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo had secretly ordered employees to filter out abusive and hateful replies to US President Barack Obama during the May 2015 #AskPOTUS town hall meeting, the media reported on Friday.

According to Buzzfeed, Costolo asked employees to deploy an algorithm which was built in-house to filter out abusive language directed at Obama.

“Another source said the media partnerships team also manually censored tweets, noting that Twitter’s public quality-filtering algorithms were inconsistent,” the report added. The decision was kept secret from senior employees.

After a month after Obama’s town hall meeting, Costolo stepped down as CEO.

In an exit interview with The Guardian, he defended Twitter’s commitment to free speech, saying, “I will say directly that I think regulation is a threat to free speech.”

In its early years, Twitter took several stands against censorship, as evidenced in the WikiLeaks case.

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

0

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from news and world

Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
3 months
12 months
12 months
Check Member Benefits
Read More
×
×