Shareholders believe Twitter requires expert, board level oversight of civil and human rights issues to assess risk and develop strategy to avoid causing or contributing to widespread violations of human or civil rights, such as voter suppression, disinformation and hate campaigns, or violence.
Twitter reports “…if we are not able to address user concerns regarding the safety and security of our products and services or if we are unable to successfully prevent or mitigate…abusive…behavior on our platform, the size of our engaged user base may decline.”
White supremacists were responsible for the most domestic extremist violence since 1995 – 39 out of 48 deaths in 2019. Henry Fernandez, Center for American Progress, said “The muted efforts of giant social media companies to address racial violence and hate crimes perpetuated via their platforms have had terrible consequences,” noting “white nationalist rhetoric being fueled on social media leading to real-world violence including mass killings in El Paso, Texas; Gilroy, California; and, Christchurch, New Zealand.”
In October 2020, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation called out Twitter’s use by malicious actors attempting to silence Black voters and sow racial division requesting disclosure of “measures put in place to counter voter suppression, interference, and disinformation targeting Black voters.” A Senate report on Russia’s role in the United States’ elections and social media platforms’ role concluded, “No single group of Americans was targeted by information operatives more than African Americans.”
Twitter enabled police to surveil Black Lives Matter protests through a data startup,” a practice that potentially exposes people — particularly Black, Indigenous, and people of color – to further surveillance and state violence.”
Amnesty International revealed a “shocking scale of online abuse against women. “ with “troublesome” tweets sent once every 30 seconds on average, disproportionately targeting black women…contributing to the silencing of already marginalized voices.”
Ranking Digital Rights reports: “Facebook, Google (Youtube), and Twitter lack oversight and risk assessment mechanisms that could help them identify and mitigate the ways that their platforms can be used by malicious actors to organize and incite violence or manipulate public opinion.”
As fiduciaries, our Board is responsible for stewardship of business performance and long term strategic planning, in light of risk factors like widespread violations of human and civil rights.