“I am enormously proud of the work we did to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights…and to defend the needs of those particularly at risk of human rights abuse by virtue of their social media presence, such as journalists.”…Twitter Human Rights Team leader, Shannon Raj Singh
11/5/22, “The Twitter Massacre,” Moon of Alabama
“I am amusing myself with watching the panic some people express over Elon Musk’s cleanup of Twitter….
Of interest is what functions were eliminated. The Guardian provides this list:
“From news reports and terminated employees’ announcements, here’s what we know so far about the teams that have been hit by the layoffs of thousands of Twitter employees:
- The human rights team has been laid off, according to a now former employee, Shannon Raj Singh, who said the team worked to protect those at risk in global conflicts, including in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.
- The ML (machine learning) Ethics, Transparency and Accountability team is gone, according to a tweet of a laid-off manager.
- The “internet technology team”, which helps keep the site running, has been cut to “a skeleton crew”, two sources told the Times.
- An accessibly experience engineering team has been cut, according to a laid-off engineering manager.
- The curation team, responsible for the Moments feature on Twitter, has also been cut, former employees reported.
- Twitter’s communications department is almost entirely gone, according to the Verge.
- Other areas that have been heavily impacted, the Verge reported, include product trust and safety, policy, research and social good.“
What were these teams actually doing?
The human rights team leader gave some hints:
Shannon Raj Singh @ShannonRSingh – 17:58 UTC · Nov 4, 2022Yesterday was my last day at Twitter: the entire Human Rights team has been cut from the company. I am enormously proud of the work we did to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights, to protect those at-risk in global conflicts & crises including Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and to defend the needs of
those particularly at risk of human rights abuse by virtue of their social media presence,
such as journalists & human rights defenders.
The human rights team was the ‘regime change’ force on Twitter. It intervened in conflicts where the U.S. preferred a certain side.
Jerri @JerusWorld – 20:42 UTC · Nov 4, 2022
Replying to @ShannonRSingh
So you are the one that was censoring pro-Ethiopian and Eritrean voices in order to help the rebel group from Tigray. May Karma pay you back for thousands of lives perished in US/West proxy war.
Shannon Raj Singh had previously meddled in Afghan and other countries’ cultures:
Shannon Raj Singh is a Legal Counsel for SAHR, advising a Kabul-based team on sexual violence litigation in Afghanistan, which aims to end the invasive and discriminatory practice of female virginity testing. She is an international criminal law attorney focused on victim-centered responses to mass atrocities. Currently based in The Hague, she has experience working with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and a number of human rights NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa. She has also practiced as a litigator in the United States, appearing in both state and federal courts and assisting with overseas corruption investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
[2/2/2021, “Shannon Raj Singh’s (JD 2011) work in international human rights has led her everywhere from Rwanda to The Hague to Lebanon, and now, back to America and a position as Twitter’s human rights counsel. For many people around the world, Raj Singh points out,
“In that regard, social media affords incredible opportunities to advance human rights,” she says. “These companies have immense power to shape and empower discourse around the world, and they’re seeing the positive way that their platforms can influence the course of events, such as during the Arab Spring and the #MeToo movements, as well as the dangers that can arise, through misinformation, disinformation and hate speech….Policies that social media companies adopt...
not only for a particular country or region, but also worldwide, she adds. “Few, if any, bodies or organizations can claim their policies have as expansive a reach….
This is the opportunity of a lifetime,
and I hope to do it justice,” she says.” USC School of Law]
(continuing): “The machine learning ethics, transparency and accountability team was also fired. Machine learning, also glorified as ‘artificial intelligence’, is essentially an (often lousy) pattern recognition system. It can be trained with categorized data and, after that, can categorized other data it gets presented. All one needs to know about its ethics, transparency and accountability is is the old IT wisdom ‘garbage in garbage out’. If one trains the system with badly categorized data it will be badly categorize data. It does not need an extra team to learn that.
I do not know what the ‘Internet technology team’ was doing but the function obviously still exists. It was merely downsized.
The accessibly experience engineering team included at least five members. There task was to modify the Twitter app so it could be used better by people with disabilities. I find it weird that Twitter had a whole team for that. To teach designers to use colors that can be differentiated by color blind people takes about 90 minutes max. All other accessibility issues I can think of (fontsize, button size etc.) are an issue for the device and operation system, not for an application like Twitter that runs on top of those. Besides that, how big is the market of people with disabilities for a company like Twitter?
The ‘curation team’ ran the Twitter moments feature. It allows for blog posts about specific tweets. The feature never took off. I know of no one who has ever used it.
Many journalists are hostile to Musk’s takeover of their favorite hang out.
The communications department was there to talk to the press.
Why bother?
And the other functions? Product trust and safety, policy, research and social good? What were they actually doing? How has the ‘social good’ team helped the company to be successful?
The Washington Post laments that Twitter fired some people who were doing ‘election information’:
The mass layoffs Friday gutted teams devoted to combating election misinformation,
adding context to misleading tweets
and communicating
campaign staff.
The layoffs included a number of people who were scheduled to be on call this weekend and early next week
to monitor for signs of foreign disinformation,
spam and
other problematic content around the election, one former employee told The Washington Post.
‘Foreign meddling’ is certainly an issue in U.S. elections as foreign money
funneled through lobbyists can influence the votes.
But ‘foreign meddling’ on social media is simply a myth promoted by Democrats
as part of their great ‘Russiagate’ fake.
Twitter’s downfall into a ‘regime change’ outlet came in 2009 when it moved a maintenance window
to help U.S. ‘regime change’ efforts in Iran:
[NY Times] The Obama administration says it has tried to avoid words or deeds that could be portrayed as American meddling in Iran’s presidential election and its tumultuous aftermath. Yet on Monday afternoon, a 27-year-old State Department official, Jared Cohen, e-mailed the social-networking site Twitter with an unusual request:
delay scheduled maintenance of its global network, which would have cut off service while Iranians were using Twitter to swap information and inform the outside world about the mushrooming protests around Tehran.
The request, made to a Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, is yet another new-media milestone: the
recognition by the United States government that an Internet blogging service that did not exist four years ago has the
potential to change history in an ancient Islamic country….
Twitter complied with the request, saying in a blog post on Monday that it put off the upgrade until late Tuesday afternoon — 1:30 a.m. Wednesday in Tehran — because its partners recognized “the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran.”
That was an expensive mistake. Shortly thereafter Twitter lost access to the Iranian market.
Back to ‘regime change’ assistant Shannon Raj Singh:
chinahand @chinahand – 18:55 UTC · Nov 4, 2022
Quoting @ShannonRSingh
Somebody should publish the pre Elon org chart. Judging by this
twitter walked talked and quacked like an NGO
which made it subject to banning in half the world.
Twitter had become a ‘woke’ company that was mostly in the hands of the Democratic Party. By being ‘woke’ and by supporting ‘regime change’ efforts Twitter killed its own access to at least half of its potential market.
It Musk manages to make it a more neutral service, nationally and internationally, while keeping its original function alive, I am all for it.
Unfortunately that is unlikely to happen.”
“Posted by b on November 5, 2022 at 17:05 UTC | Permalink”
………………………………………………………
17 among comments
…………………………………………………..
One.
“According to UK radio news Musk fired the staff because Twitter was/is losing $4 million dollars a day.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 5 2022 18:07 utc | 6″
………………………………………………..
Two.
“So an entire cadre of social engineering rainbow people were laid off from a company with a large web presence but little tangible assets.
I see…….
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 5 2022 18:08 utc | 8″
…………………………………………….
Three.
“I wonder if this will change under Musk’s tenure of Twitter.
“The senior Twitter executive with editorial responsibility for the Middle East is also a part-time officer in the British Army’s psychological warfare unit, Middle East Eye has established.
Gordon MacMillan, who joined the social media company’s UK office six years ago, has for several years also served with the 77th Brigade, a unit formed in 2015 to develop “non-lethal” ways of waging war.
The 77th Brigade uses social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as podcasts, data analysis and audience research
to conduct what the head of the UK military, General Nick Carter, describes as “information warfare”.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 5 2022 18:10 utc | 9″
…………………………………………
Four.
“Well, I may be entirely wrong, but Musk taking control of one of the main Democrat / Neocon propaganda outlets and demolishing its colored revolution department a week before midterms sounds like a big F U to the DNC. Since I don’t have any reason to believe a billionaire can have ethical reasons, I guess Musk may have struck some deal with the Republican party, among other things possibly getting a guarantee he will be paid in full by the US government for Ukraine’s use of Starlink, for which it has so far “forgot” to pay. Anyway, for now it’s entertaining to see the woke liberals thrown off their cardboard high horses and shrieking in the mud.
Posted by: SumGuy | Nov 5 2022 18:15 utc | 10“
…………………………………………….
Five.
“I agree that Twitter, pre-Musk, was run more like an NGO with an agenda than a public utility. And as you hint, I also think that Elon Musk has his own agenda, and that may affect how Twitter is run in the future. Musk, of course, wants to make money, and he is smart enough to realize that Twitter’s censorship policies were killing the golden goose. But he has his own priorities, and is likely enough a control freak that he will be unable to just run Twitter as a public utility….
Posted by: R.A. | Nov 5 2022 17:25 utc | 2″
……………………………………………….
Six.
“I’ve noticed too that the trending bar often has ‘factcheckers’ ‘debunking’ stories I’d never even see in the first place. IE, they were propagating the idea that vast amounts of total madness and propaganda is just flowing over people who have the ‘wrong’ opinions and
implies to those in the mainstream echo chamber
that this is what is happening and makes them feel smarter
for seeing the ‘debunked’ nonsense.
OF course, most of these stories even if they were widely viewed and believed are often of no consequence whatsoever, the MSM however do promote lies and propaganda that get scores of people killed and affect the fates of whole peoples and nations.
See also the Q-Anon flap where a fringe ideology
believed and seen by almost no-one
was implicitly positioned as being vast and influential and characterising the locus of dissent since 2016. I know many upper middle class people (Particularly women) who actually believe Q-Anon was a big deal.
Posted by: Altai | Nov 5 2022 18:30 utc | 16″
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Seven.
“b: “Unfortunately that is unlikely to happen.”
Indeed. Scott Ritter’s Twitter account has been permanently banned on April 9, 2022 because of Scott’s questioning of the Western mainstream narrative on Bucha. Following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, Scott set up a new Twitter account and posted the following tweet:
Scott Ritter @author_himself – 8:53 UTC · Oct 28, 2022@aaronjmate @richimedhurst @MaxBlumenthal @elonmusk I’m back.
Test, test, test.
Bucha was a war crime. Ukraine did it.
Test, test, test.
This new account was suspended the next day, October 29.
Scott is now openly challenging Andrey Shapovalov (Andriy Shapovalov), the acting director of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, which
has labeled Scott an “information terrorist”,
to an open debate:
Throwing down the gauntlet on Bucha (Scott Ritter Extra, Scott Ritter, November 4, 2022)
Posted by: S | Nov 5 2022 18:39 utc | 20″
…………………………………………….
Eight.
“Cont’d from #20
Scott’s Telegram channel has 82k subscribers: https://t.me/s/scottritter
Posted by: S | Nov 5 2022 18:43 utc | 21″
……………………………………
Nine.
“The saga at Twitter is entertaining to say the least. Time someone knocked the messianic Wokesters off their high horse.
My favourite meme so far given the above:
Twitter employees finding out that
Posted by: Down South | Nov 5 2022 18:46 utc | 22″
…………………………………………..
Ten.
“Thanks b for the list of axed departments I probably would have missed this story, pretty interesting. Whatever else about Musk’s motives seems he either intuited or read Graeber’s (in)famous bullshit jobs essay. If so hats off to him:
David Graeber-On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Nov 5 2022 18:46 utc | 23″
………………………………………..
Eleven.
“Women have been permanently thrown off Twitter for pointing out that men in dresses are still men or for saying “he” when referring to a man.
That is Not Allowed in Woke World. Rape and death threats to women are allowed, however. (See JK Rowling).
I hope that the women will be reinstated.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Nov 5 2022 18:51 utc | 24″
………………………………………..
Twelve.
“@steven t johnson #12:
“Praising Musk for firing deadbeats is more about being anti-worker.”
So firing U.S. Dem Party censors masquerading as “fact-checkers” is now “anti-worker”. You’re really keeping Louis Proyect’s spirit alive!
…no anti-woke was ever strangled by Twitter.
Yes, yes. And black is white, and up is down.
Posted by: S | Nov 5 2022 19:01 utc | 27″
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Thirteen.
“Elon Musk is the richest man on earth. As such, he’s the enemy of everything good and one of the worst piece of turd you can find. His Starlink service, provided free for the Ukrainian military, has prolonged the war and is responsible for hundreds, if not thousands of innocent Russian deaths. He should be executed on the spot and hung by his feet at some oil station. The idea that anything good could come out of such human rubbish is preposterous.
Posted by: Vissarionovich | Nov 5 2022 19:25 utc | 31
…………………………………….
Fourteen.
@ Vissarionovich | Nov 5 2022 19:25 utc | 31
That is a bit harsh.. i think he is like most people – certain talents and qualities and typically lacking in some other dept... his commentary on bolivia and etc. etc – really boneheaded and stupid.. you could say he is a complete ignoramus on usa foreign policy and that would probably be accurate... so in all likelihood the intel agencies will continue on with twitter and musk too... but saying what you say is extreme and i don’t agree with your way of resolving these differences…
Posted by: james | Nov 5 2022 19:49 utc | 34″
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Fifteen.
“People are crazy. Elon Musk is a pentagon’s contractor and not some kind of freedom fighter.
Posted by: Carlos | Nov 5 2022 22:11 utc | 63″
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Sixteen.
“‘Foreign meddling’ is certainly an issue in U.S. elections as foreign money funneled through lobbyists can influence the votes of senators.
The reason the ‘foreign interference’ meme is bullshit is that Russia and other countries aren’t stupid. They know that what American voters (or voters in any Western country) want
has almost nothing to do with what governments will do.
The US has all the foreign interference it needs, right to the top. They’re all on some foreign payroll or another, and don’t forget 10% for the Big Guy.
Posted by: ZX | Nov 5 2022 23:28 utc | 70″
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Seventeen.
“TASS heading:
“UN High Commissioner calls on Musk to enforce human rights on Twitter”
After the fall of sanity this reads quite well.
Posted by: Elmagnostic | Nov 6 2022 0:19 utc | 76″
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