In an open letter, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said reports of the platform’s entire human rights team being fired by the new owner “were not, from my perspective, an encouraging start.” . Türk said he was writing with “concern and concern about our digital public square and Twitter’s role in it.” He also warned against the spread of hate speech and misinformation and stressed the need to protect users’ privacy, saying free speech “is not a free license.” Since his $44 billion takeover last week, Musk has disbanded the company’s board, fired its chief executive, Parag Agrawal, along with senior executives and began mass layoffs on Friday. Staff facing losing their jobs in the UK have been given until 9am on Tuesday to nominate a representative for a formal consultation on their employment. Türk, who posted the open letter on Twitter, where he has more than 25,000 followers, wrote: “Like all companies, Twitter must understand the harms associated with its platform and take steps to address them. “Respect for our common human rights should set the guardrails for the use and evolution of the platform. In short, I urge you to ensure that human rights are central to your management of Twitter under your leadership.” Türk, a UN official who took over as UN rights chief last month, urged Twitter to uphold rights to privacy and free expression to the fullest extent possible under relevant laws, and to openly states government pressures that would violate these rights. However, he warned about the viral spread of harmful misinformation, as seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Twitter has a responsibility to avoid amplifying content that leads to harm to people’s rights,” Türk said. “There is no place for hate that incites discrimination, hostility or violence on Twitter. “Hate speech has spread like wildfire on social media … with horrific, life-threatening consequences.” Türk added that the social media company should continue to ban such hate on the platform, while every effort should be made to remove such content in a timely manner. “It is vital that Twitter refrains from intrusive user tracking and collection of related data and resists, to the fullest extent possible under applicable law, unwarranted requests from governments for user data,” he said. Musk, whose account description on the social networking platform reads Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator, defended the mass layoffs by saying workers would receive a three-month payout from the company, which he said was losing more than $4 million a day. He tweeted on Friday night: “Regarding reducing Twitter’s power, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4 million/day. Those who were leaving were offered 3 months of severance.”
