Published on :
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Saturday urged the new owner of Twitter Elon Musk to ensure that these rights are respected on the social network. Twitter has laid off half of its employees, including the human rights team.
Just days after his takeover of the social network Twitter, Elon Musk is making a lot of noise. This Saturday, November 5, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk asked him to enforce human rights on the social network.
“I urge you to ensure that human rights are at the center of the management of Twitter under your leadership”, wrote Volker Türk in an open letter, where he expressed his “apprehension about our digital public square and the role of Twitter in this one”.
“Respect for our shared human rights should act as safeguards for the use and evolution of the platform” and “like all companies, Twitter must understand the harms associated with its platform and take steps to remedy them “, he added.
Human rights team sacked
In this sense, the information that Elon Musk has dismissed the entire Twitter team that was dedicated to human rights is “not, from my point of view, an encouraging start”, regretted Volker Türk.
“Twitter is part of a global revolution that has transformed the way we communicate,” he added. “But I write with concern and apprehension about our digital public square and Twitter’s role in it.”
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, who rightly posted his open letter on Twitter, where he has some 25,000 followers, set out six fundamental principles, including freedom of expression, protection of privacy and guarantee of transparency.
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, took control of Twitter on October 28, after buying the social network from the blue bird for 44 billion euros. He immediately dissolved the board of directors, fired the leaders, before dismissing about half of the 7,500 employees.
Friday’s layoffs capped a week of chaos and uncertainty over Twitter’s future under the leadership of Elon Musk, who tweeted on Friday that the service was experiencing a “massive drop in revenue.”
With AFP and Reuters
.