Musk’s X axes Election Integrity team, says they were undermining election integrity

X, formerly known as Twitter, has reportedly fired more than half of its ‘election integrity team,’ according to a report by The Information.

The report was confirmed to an extent by X owner Elon Musk himself.

This comes soon after X CEO, Linda Yaccarino, announced that the company plans to expand its safety and election teams globally.

Oh you mean the “Election Integrity” Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 27, 2023

The Information‘s report suggests X has cut all four of its Dublin-based election integrity staff responsible for monitoring and combating misinformation related to elections, including the team’s head Aaron Rodericks, who had been with X (Twitter) since 2016.

Rodericks had reportedly been suspended for liking posts that were critical of Musk, Yaccarino and X. Before he was suspended, he had made a post on LinkedIn that suggested X was hiring for a team that would fight for civic integrity and fight disinformation on the platform. “If you have a passion for protecting the integrity of elections and civic events, X is certainly at the center of the conversation,” he wrote.

Musk confirmed the news in an X post, claiming the team undermined election integrity and that “they’re gone.”

The Information’s report coincided with the release of the EU’s first assessment of social media platforms’ compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA), a set of rules that aim to curb online disinformation and hate speech. According to the assessment, X had significantly higher levels of misinformation and disinformation than other social media platforms.

Elsewhere, the platform has removed the option for users to report tweets based on misinformation. Read more about it here.

Source: The Information Via: Engadget