Twitter has promised Australia that Elon Musk’s cuts won’t hurt online safety

Twitter has reassured Australia’s online safety regulator that it will comply with Australian laws in a timely fashion, despite significant cuts to its Australian and international staff under Elon Musk.

Since Musk bought Twitter in October, reportedly fired 70% of the company’s 7500 staff have been fired, including most of the Australian office. This reportedly left the entire Asia-Pacific region with one contractor hired to address spam in the Korean market. 

Earlier this month, Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant wrote to Musk directly with concerns about how Twitter’s reduced staffing would affect the platform’s ability to respond to regulatory obligations overseen by her office. 

Inman Grant noted that her previous employment in Twitter’s public policy and philanthropy team meant she is someone who “understands Twitter’s operational ecosystem”. 

“Deep cuts to public policy, legal, communications, human rights, ethical AI and transparency teams leave me very concerned that Twitter is removing both the expertise and necessary guardrails to deal with the growing threat of hate, harm, disinformation and other forms of serious online abuse on the platform,” she wrote. She sent a copy to Twitter’s then global head of safety and integrity, Yoel Roth, who resigned shortly after.

Instead of a reply from the world’s richest man, eSafety told Crikey that it had heard from Roth’s replacement, Ella Irwin, and the company’s global public policy vice-president, Sinead McSweeney.

“eSafety has recently been in contact with Twitter’s newly appointed global heads of policy and trust and safety, who have reaffirmed Twitter’s commitment to prioritise user safety, recognise Australian law, and respond quickly to any notices issued by eSafety,” it said.

The office also continued to work with Twitter Australia’s policy and trust and safety staff.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

The eSafety commissioner has powers under the 2021 Online Safety Act that require Twitter to take down certain types of content (such as image-based abuse or adult cyber-abuse material) within a day or face a fine of up to $550,000. Perhaps even more concerning for the platform, Inman Grant also has the power to order app stores to take an app like Twitter off the platform if it facilitates the posting of certain material such as child sexual abuse material. 

Inman Grant criticised Musk’s early handling of the company earlier this month: “If the first week of the chief Twit’s tenure is any indication, I think they have a bumpy ride ahead of them.”

Meanwhile, Musk has ploughed ahead with plans to loosen some of the platform’s previous content moderation decisions. This week, Twitter has begun to reinstate previously banned accounts — a move condemned by civil rights groups as opening the door for hate speech and harassment.