I looked up how many tweets actually get deleted for breaking rules

I was reading a report from a group that studies online speech. They found that less than 1% of all tweets reported for hate speech actually get taken down. I found this on their website last Tuesday. It really makes you wonder how a platform decides what crosses the line, right? Has anyone else seen stats that made them question how these calls are made?

3 comments

3 Comments

max22327d ago

That "less than 1%" stat is the whole point, not a failure. If they took down every reported tweet, people would just report stuff they disagree with to silence others. The line has to be very clear, like direct threats or targeted slurs. A platform banning more would mean giving a small team way too much power to decide what's just offensive speech versus actual harm. The high bar is what keeps it an open forum.

diana_carr6627d ago

Honestly used to get mad at how few reports got action. Figured they just didn't care. But the point about people weaponizing the report button to shut down opinions they don't like... yeah, that makes sense. A super low bar would turn the whole place into a mess of false flags. Maybe it's just me, but I see why they keep the line so strict now.

green.val27d ago

Okay but come on, is a tweet really that serious? It's just text on a screen. The idea that a few people in an office somewhere are the final judges of what's too mean for the internet is kind of a joke. They probably just look for the absolute worst stuff and ignore the rest because what else can they do. Getting worked up over a 1% removal rate feels like missing the bigger picture that none of this actually matters.