As Elon Musk Replatforms Donald Trump, #StopToxicTwitter Coalition Renews Calls for Corporations to Stop Advertising on Twitter

For Immediate Release
November 20, 2022
Contact: press@accountabletech.org

Civil society, human rights, and tech accountability groups leading the #StopToxicTwitter coalition issued the following statement condemning Elon Musk’s unilateral decision to replatform Donald Trump

“In his three weeks as Twitter CEO, Elon Musk has orchestrated a mass exodus of safety experts and turned the platform into a hellscape of misinformation, hate, and extremism. Now he has decided to hastily and unilaterally replatform Donald Trump — the man who incited a deadly insurrection against the U.S. government.

“Unless and until Musk can be trusted to enforce Twitter’s prior community standards, the platform is not safe for users or advertisers. For those still advertising on Twitter right now: know that you are contributing directly to an erratic billionaire’s decimation of Twitter and its rapid devolution into utter chaos.”

# # #

#StopToxicTwitter is a coalition of 60+ civil rights and civil society groups, led by Accountable Tech, Free Press, and Media Matters for America, calling on Twitter advertisers to demand a safer Twitter for their brands and for users.

On November 2, civil rights leaders from #StopToxicTwitter met with Elon Musk to express concerns about his plans for the platform. After that meeting, Musk tweeted out a series of commitments, tagging allies who were in the meeting.

On November 4, Musk broke his word by summarily firing 50 percent of Twitter’s staff just four days before the election, threatening the platform’s ability to uphold basic brand and content moderation safeguards. #StopToxicTwitter demands that all advertisers pause their Twitter ad spending.

On November 16, Musk emailed remaining employees to demand that they commit to an “extremely hardcore” culture or leave. 1200 employees choose to resign — leaving critical teams unstaffed and threatening core functions of the platform.
On November 19, Musk unilaterally chose to reinstate Donald Trump, backtracking on a prior commitment to delay reinstatement decisions until review by a diverse content moderation panel.

Statements

Aug 28, 2024

Accountable Tech Statement on Advancement of California’s Landmark AI Safety Bill

Today, the California General Assembly passed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047) — a landmark bill that would require AI developers to adhere to common sense safety guidelines for new AI models. The legislation, which is sponsored by California State Senator Scott Wiener, would introduce crucial guardrails around AI development, including requiring pre-deployment safety testing and third-party auditing. The bill will head back to the State Senate for a confirmation vote and then to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.

Statements

Aug 16, 2024

Accountable Tech on Appeals Court Ruling on the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act

Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement on the Ninth Circuit Court’s narrowing of the district court’s injunction blocking California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code: The Ninth Circuit’s ruling makes clear that the lower court’s injunction was far too broad. The district court must now reconsider the safety-by-design and privacy-by-default protections central to the Age-Appropriate Design Code.