<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/21/aec-twitter-x-struggles-posts-violence-disinformation-removal>
"The Australian Electoral Commission has struggled to get Twitter to remove
posts that it says are inciting violence against staff and promoting
disinformation about the electoral process ahead of the Indigenous voice to
parliament referendum, documents reveal.
Correspondence between the agency and social media company – now known as X –
obtained under freedom of information laws show frustration over “nil actions”
by Twitter on AEC reports in April and May, with a referral left pending for up
to 15 days and some appeals left even longer.
The documents show Twitter repeatedly ruled that tweets referred by the AEC
were not against its terms of service. On 2 May, the AEC asked Twitter to
reconsider its decision not to remove a tweet that raised “concerns it is
inciting violence against AEC staff”.
“We believe a post claiming the AEC is corrupt and stating ‘You pack of dogs
will have your day’ is intended to incite violence against our organisation and
staff members,” the AEC wrote.
Another tweet the company declined to remove replied to an AEC tweet, stating
“stop interfering in policy, or pay the price”, which the commission also
interpreted as a threat.
On 10 May, the AEC again asked Twitter to review its decision not to take down
a tweet that it said “wrongly implies that ‘fake’ voters can be enrolled on the
Australian electoral roll, and encourages users to do so via a monetary
incentive”.
“Falsely claiming that enrolment fraud is occurring – without evidence – only
serves to bolster disinformation and undermine faith in the electoral process,”
the AEC said.
An AEC spokesperson confirmed the tweets appealed against in April and May were
not removed by Twitter, but said the company had in other cases added warning
labels, removed one post and suspended accounts in response to the “small
number” of posts it had submitted.
“People have the right to express whatever opinion they would like to,” he
said. “AEC communication, including on social and in liaison with social media
organisations, is only ever in relation to objective information regarding
electoral processes we deliver, or threatening behaviour.”
Analysis of more than 200,000 tweets by a Queensland University of Technology
academic found that while the yes side was more prolific on the platform, there
was a significant boosting of conspiracy theories by some accounts pushing for
a no vote, including false claims about the AEC."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
