Thread of new reporting:
For the last couple of weeks, if you searched "cat" on Twitter, the search box would autocomplete to "cat in a blender."
The video you would see when you clicked through appeared to show a kitten being slaughtered.
How did this happen? I found out.
For the last couple of weeks, if you searched "cat" on Twitter, the search box would autocomplete to "cat in a blender."
The video you would see when you clicked through appeared to show a kitten being slaughtered.
How did this happen? I found out.
Last week, a London mom named Laura Clemons came home to her son asking her if she had Twitter.
When she asked why, her 11-year-old son said, “There’s something about a cat in a blender.” He'd heard about it on the playground.
She went on Twitter and saw... exactly that.
When she asked why, her 11-year-old son said, “There’s something about a cat in a blender.” He'd heard about it on the playground.
She went on Twitter and saw... exactly that.
Clemons reached out to Twitter on May 3, asking how preteens on the playground all knew about the animal torture video on Twitter.
She received no response.
She received no response.
A week goes by, and more animal torture videos are flooding Twitter and the search box. "Dog" started to autocomplete to "dog stabbed by screwdriver."
The video shows exactly what you think.
The video shows exactly what you think.
When NBC News reached out — eight days after Clemens had heard of Twitter's animal torture video problem from her son's classmates and asked them for a response — Twitter responded with a poop emoji.
Hours later, they took down autocomplete for ALL searches.
Hours later, they took down autocomplete for ALL searches.
Yoel Roth, who used to run Trust and Safety at Twitter, said there were multiple layers of redundancy to make sure these sorts of things wouldn't appear.
He believes Elon Musk's new administration must have "ripped out" those filters as part of their new "free speech" plan.
He believes Elon Musk's new administration must have "ripped out" those filters as part of their new "free speech" plan.
Here's the whole story about how Twitter is saturated with animal cruelty videos — and how it was even algorithmically boosting them until we reached out for comment.
America's preteens know this site has a gore and snuff problem. Some adults don't.
nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
America's preteens know this site has a gore and snuff problem. Some adults don't.
nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
I would also like to thank Ms. Clemens for confiding in me for this story.
It is not easy to stand up against the richest man in the world.
I am tough but fair about Twitter, a site that has devolved into a place where preteens share animal cruelty videos as playground pranks.
It is not easy to stand up against the richest man in the world.
I am tough but fair about Twitter, a site that has devolved into a place where preteens share animal cruelty videos as playground pranks.
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