Twitter Reinstates Suicide Alert Feature Following Reuters Report

(CTN NEWS) – NEW YORK – Twitter restored a feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines to users looking up certain content after being pressured by users and consumer safety groups.

According to two persons with knowledge of the situation, Elon Musk, the owner of the social media network, had the feature removed a few days before Reuters’ article on Friday.

Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin verified the removal after the published article and described it as temporary.

“Our prompts have been updated and repaired. While we do that, they were just momentarily removed,” Irwin said to Reuters in an email.

"We have been fixing and revamping our prompts," says Twitter head of trust and safety Ella Irwin

Read more: https://t.co/NIzPwfac5p#GeoNews pic.twitter.com/mPGLOc9M7G

— Geo English (@geonews_english) December 24, 2022

She stated, “We anticipate having them back up next week.”

Musk, who first ignored calls for comment, tweeted, “False, it is still there” about 15 hours after the initial allegation. He also posted, “Twitter doesn’t prevent suicide,” in response to users’ criticism.

1. The message is actually still up. This is fake news.

2. Twitter doesn’t prevent suicide.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2022

The #ThereIsHelp feature displayed a banner at the top of search results for specific themes.

It included contact information for organizations that assist numerous nations with issues like mental health, HIV, vaccinations, child sexual exploitation, COVID-19, gender-based violence, natural catastrophes, and free speech.

Following its removal, various consumer advocacy organizations and users expressed worry for the safety of the platform’s most vulnerable users.

Suicide is not the solution.
It may not be tomorrow, but, there will be a brighter day.
However lonely and helpless you feel please know you are not alone and there is help available.
Please tag people and organisations in the comments who can help. Thank you.@allontheboard pic.twitter.com/oBqAcydedt

— All On The Board (@allontheboard) December 16, 2022

Internet services like Twitter, Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O), and Meta’s Facebook (META.O) have tried to point users to well-known resource providers like government hotlines for years.

When they suspect someone may be in danger of harming themselves or others.

This effort is partially due to pressure from consumer safety groups.

“Google does incredibly well with these in their search results,”Irwin wrote in her email, “and (we) are mirroring some of their approach with the adjustments we are making.”

We want to ensure they are operating properly and staying current because we know these prompts are helpful in many situations.

The deletion of #ThereIsHelp, according to Eirliani Abdul Rahman, a member of a recently disbanded Twitter content advisory panel, was “very unnerving and profoundly disturbing.”

“Normally, you would be working on it in parallel, not deleting it,” she noted, even if it were temporarily removed to create room for upgrades.

RELATED CTN NEWS:

Gaia App On FireStick: How To Install And Watch It