Christina J. ColcloughNov 6, 2022
Johannes Icking

In a letter to Elon Musk, UN High Commissioner for #HumanRights, Volker Türk, calls the firing of "entire human rights team...not 'an encouraging start.'"

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/11/un-human-rights-chief-turk-issues-open-letter-twitters-elon-musk

UN Human Rights Chief Türk issues open letter to Twitter’s Elon Musk

GENEVA (5 November 2022) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Saturday issued an open letter to Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer at Twitter, urging him to “ensure human rights are central to the management of Twitter” under Musk’s leadership. The letter follows reports of the sacking of Twitter’s entire human rights team and all but two of the ethical AI team – not “an encouraging start,” said Türk.

OHCHR
Nov 5, 2022 at 9:41pmWeb
Show threadStrypeyNov 6, 2022

@jicking
I support the sentiment of course, but it's a bit like writing to Hitler to complain about him firing the human rights team of the concentration camp program. There are so many rights violations built into the structure of the Titter platform and business model.

@Kay

Show threadKay   Nov 6, 2022
@strypey @jicking Name and shame is a standard part of the business model too. EM may not pay attention but corporates with connections to countries and markets that pay more than lip service to international treaties may pay attention. Standard #NotAGoodLook approach also taken in attempts to stop child labour in chocolate production or clearfelling native forests for palm oil production.
Show threadJohannes IckingNov 6, 2022
@Kay @strypey Exactly! Does Musk care? I very much doubt it. But the companies buying ads on Twitter might.
Plus: It is significant in itself that the top UN human rights official publicly recognizes the rights impact of the takeover.
Show threadStrypeyNov 7, 2022

@jicking
@Kay

I seems you've both read my post as dismissing the letter for pissing into the wind. My criticism is more that the letter is too little, too late. Even with a paid human rights team as a PR hedge, Titter has been violating human rights for years. Why are UN officials only noticing and taking action now?

Show threadJohannes IckingNov 7, 2022
@strypey @Kay Seems that I indeed missed your point...
AFAIK, the UN has not been paying much attention to #Twitter. There has however been some pointed criticism of #Facebook, especially of their complicity in the Rohingya genocide. So high time that the UN opens their eyes to other platforms as well!
Show threadStrypeyNov 8, 2022

@jicking
> high time that the UN opens their eyes to other platforms as well!

Yes, and to the underlying dynamics that give rise to them; proprietary software, opaque algorithms, ad-based business models driven by mass surveillance, etc. There have been exists and academics talking and publishing about this for years.

https://piped.kavin.rocks/watch?v=WLfr7sU5W2E

@Kay

Piped

An alternative privacy-friendly YouTube frontend which is efficient by design.

Show threadKay   Nov 9, 2022
@strypey Thanks. Topics are of interest. I've attended events and contributed to submissions on digital identity, algorithms, data and privacy and facial recognition technology policies and the need for regulations etc. My focus is #HumanRights more than fair treatment for small businesses but the two intersect. Lots of interesting and disturbing talks on #RightsCon each year. Getting action is tough though.
https://www.rightscon.org/
RightsCon

The 13th edition of the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age will take place in February 2025

RightsCon Summit Series
Show threadSammurraysuttonNov 8, 2022
@jicking pretty sure he'll take that as some kind of accolade