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| Despite the warnings Twitter introduced the Spaces feature |
Since the launch of Twitter Spaces earlier this year, hundreds of people have reportedly participated in live audio chats led by Taliban supporters, white nationalists and anti-vaccine activists to spread false information about the coronavirus.
According to a Washington Post report, prior to the launch of rival Clubhouse, Twitter lacked the controls it needed to combat internal harassment, violent calls and hate speech. Although executives know this can lead to abuse.
Spaces lacks a human intermediary, nor does it have technology that can monitor audio in real time. Displaying audio automatically is more difficult than text.
So far, the company has relied on the community to report the room allegedly violating the rules.
However, if a host uses Spaces to share racist or paranoid views and their audience agrees with theirs, they are unlikely to report the discussion to Twitter's security team.
According to the report, Twitter's technology has helped fuel some of these discussions. With Spaces attracting a large number of followers, the platform realized that it was very popular and promoted it to more users.
Viviana Wiwall, a spokeswoman for the company, told The Washington Post that the alleged bug has been fixed.
“Since the creation of Spaces, keeping people safe and promoting a healthy conversation has been a top priority, while helping the presenter and audience take control of the experience,” Verver said.
The spokesman indicated that the company is looking for ways to monitor rooms in real time. But it is not currently available.
She said the company has certain guarantees. It can analyze room addresses to find blocked keywords. However, adjusting the spelling can ensure that the filter skips problematic words.
Twitter aware of potential misuse of space
Company employees have raised concerns about the unattended live audio room. But some people who suggested companies slow down and work on technology to improve security were fired or banned from meeting.
The company created Spaces to meet the needs of investors by accelerating product development and generating more revenue.
Since August, owners who meet certain conditions have been able to charge a fee to access spaces that Twitter shares with.
The company searched for sources of income other than advertising, including newsletters and premium subscriptions to Twitter Blue.
Some of these products have problems, too. Tipping feature, where users can send each other payments in the form of tips and view home addresses for certain tip-payers through certain types of PayPal transactions.