What a difference two weeks can make.
Back on Thursday, August 11, Twitter announced– in a series of tweets– that it would begin enforcing its “Civic Integrity Policy” in the context of the approaching U.S. midterm elections. A blog post marking the announcement described newly redesigned labels on posts containing misinformation. The labels, called “prebunks,” are intended to “get ahead of misleading narratives on Twitter,” and they work in tandem with information “hubs” to share state-specific information about elections. “Twitter plays a critical role in empowering democratic conversations, facilitating meaningful political debate, and providing information on civic participation – not only in the US, but around the world,” the company said. “People deserve to trust the election conversations and content they encounter on Twitter.”
Then came the whistleblower.
On Wednesday, August 23, documents revealed by a whistleblower – former Twitter head of security Peiter “Mudge” Zatko – suggest that contrary to its stated intent, Twitter chronically under-resources efforts to protect the discourse around elections on its platform, and that the problem is far worse abroad than it is in the United States. The documents were first reported by the Washington Post and CNN. The Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena for Zatko to testify next month.
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