'Yeah, they’re gone...': Musk fires election integrity team ahead of 2024 election season
Elon Musk
Ahead of the hotly anticipated 2024 US presidential elections as well as the general elections in India, X (formerly known as Twitter) has fired its election team working to prevent disruptions during the polls.
Former X CEO Elon Musk took to the platform and confirmed that the 'election integrity' team was 'gone'. Responding to a post that said X had reportedly cut half of its team, Musk said:“Oh you mean the ‘Election Integrity’ Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.”
According to a Guardian report, a number of staff members working out of the Dublin office, including Aaron Rodericks, the co-lead of the election disinformation team have left the company.
The sudden firing of the election staff suggests that the workers were not aware that Musk was mulling such a move. Last month, Roderick posted a recruitment ad on LinkedIn, saying he was looking to hire eight staffers ahead of more than 70 elections worldwide in 2024.
“If you have a passion for protecting the integrity of elections and civic events, X is certainly at the centre of the conversation!” he wrote.
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Ever since taking over X last year, Musk has not shied away from cutting flab in the company. He fired more than half the employees, including those working in the once-sizeable "trust and safety" team. The likes of Yoel Roth and Ella Irwin lasted only a handful of months in their respective divisions, once Musk arrived.
The billionaire is of the view that X and its partisan executives under the previous leadership were allowed to dictate the election content on the platform which eventually interfered with the voting patterns.
Watch |Elon Musk to transform X into a super app with calling feature
EU's disinformation campaign
Interestingly, Musk firing his election integrity staff comes days after the European Union said X was found to have thehighest ratio of disinformation posts of all large social media platforms. The 27-nation bloc warned Musk to comply with sweeping new laws on fake news and Russian propaganda.
“Mr Musk knows he is not off the hook by leaving the code of practice.There are obligations under the hard law. So my message for Twitter/X is you have to comply. We will be watching what you do," saidVěra Jourová, European commissioner, responsiblefor the implementation of the new anti-disinformation code.
EU's claims that disinformation has risen on the platform might not be good news for X and its ad revenue.According to Musk, X'sadvertising revenue has plummeted by 60 per centin the US as influential voices urged the advertisers to give the platform a skip.
(With inputs from agencies)
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