Thread by @cbouzy

Each time I talk to a journalist, I am asked why companies like Twitter don't do more to stop disinformation, targeted attacks, bots, and toxic trolls? My answer is they can't, but not from a lack of trying, but because they are understaffed and under-equipped. Let me explain...

For this example, let's use Twitter: Twitter has over 1 billion users and approximately 330 million monthly active users. Twitter has nearly 6000 employees, and to keep it simple, let's pretend every employee focuses on keeping the platform safe and removing bad accounts...

For every Twitter employee, there are 55,000 accounts. In comparison, there are 328 million people who live in America and an estimated 800,000 law enforcement officers. So for every officer, there are 400 people. But the Twitter numbers are significantly worse than that...

Not every employee at Twitter focuses on removing bad accounts, so a small number of people are trying to "police" millions of accounts. Even with machine learning and artificial intelligence, they don't have the manpower to tackle the issue. So how do we solve the problem?...

I firmly believe there isn't a silver bullet, and to solve the problem, it will require a multipronged approach. It will require 3rd party companies, lawmakers, and users to work together to solve the issue. The current system clearly isn't working, and we must try new ideas...

1. Twitter should make it significantly easier for companies like Bot Sentinel to integrate their technology into Twitter as a plugin that users can enable. Companies shouldn't have to create browser extensions and/or 3rd party mobile apps just to make the platform safer...

2. Hiding replies isn't enough; people can still see the replies. Users should be allowed to delete toxic replies to their tweets. Deleting replies will solve many of the problems we see. There can be "safeguards" to prevent users from abusing the delete functionality...

a) When a reply is reported x number of times by users, the reply can be deleted by the original tweet's author.

b) If an algorithm determines the reply is inappropriate, the original tweet's author can delete the reply without it being reported by other users...

3. I love Twitter, and I think many of the employees are amazing people, but the reporting system sucks badly. I have reported obvious violations of Twitter's rules like doxxing, and the tweet remained up for days. The reporting system and algorithms must be revamped...

4. Lawmakers must pass new laws to address coordinated attacks on social media and people who are paid to post disinformation. If influencers are paid to tweet "vaccines don't work," we should require influencers to disclose they are being paid and disclose who is paying them...

These are just a few ideas, and I am sure some people would disagree. However, most of us can agree that the current system isn't working and something must be done to fix it.