News/Commentary

X erupts over announcement platform is seeking applications for 2024 election ‘censorship positions’

August 21, 2023 | | Print Article

“Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy,” billionaire Elon Musk tweeted mere months before taking over Twitter.

But, some 17 months later, with the blue bird gone and X evolving under Musk’s direction, the platform is sending a very different message.

Ahead of the 2024 election, X is currently seeking job applicants who are “passionate about protecting users from global disinformation” and “helping people find credible information online.”

The two job positions — “Senior Specialist – Information Operations” and “Civic Integrity / Elections Team Lead” — have “some free-speech advocates alarmed,” Just the News reports.

According to the outlet, “Critics of the allegedly coercive relationship between social media companies and federal agencies quickly flagged the jobs as ‘censorship positions,’ in the words of former State Department cyber official Mike Benz, whose Foundation for Freedom Online critically researches public-private efforts against purported misinformation.”

Applicants for the “Senior Specialist” position must “have a deep understanding of geopolitical, disinformation, and cybersecurity trends.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“You are passionate about protecting the information space and combating threats to the health of online conversation,” the job posting states, “and you aren’t afraid of tackling high impact problems at massive scale with global exposure.”

“Additional fluency in languages such as Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese,” is a plus.

As the leader of the “Civic Integrity / Elections” team, you will “be responsible for developing and working with a growing team to implement a policy and product strategy across a wide range of election and information integrity issues.”

“The team will be responsible for analyzing the key parameters of an election, conducting an assessment of the risks, working with the team and stakeholders to mitigate the harms on the platform under relevant policies, and proposing ways we can be more efficient and effective in protecting the integrity of civic conversations on the platform,” according to the job description.

“Team leader Aaron Rodericks not only touts his profile on X rival BlueSky in his X bio, but is actively recruiting applicants through a subscription newsletter on disinformation that includes unflattering coverage of Musk, raising the question how involved the mercurial South African remains in his company,” Just the News reports. “Users also collected the accounts Rodericks follows on BlueSky, which Benz characterized as ‘every high-level spook & censorship industry heavyweight in the world.'”

ADVERTISEMENT

“Only active CIA need apply?” asked one user on X.

“If she meets the job description your mother can apply,” Rodericks shot back.

“Twitter’s current censorship recruiter Aaron Rodericks promotes the most scandalous censorship agency in the federal gov’t: DHS’s CISA. And he backs up CISA’s head of ‘mis, dis & malinformation’ subcommittee, Kate Starbird,” Benz stated on X. “He’s actively working against Musk’s professed vision.”

ADVERTISEMENT


The now-notorious “Twitter Files” revealed Rodericks to be skeptical of the federal government’s reports of disinformation and foreign influence. Internally, he claimed that the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) “doubled their budget by aggressively overstating threats.”

Reporter Greg Piper asked Rodericks on X, “Aaron, how would you square your skepticism of claims coming from @TheGEC (as shown in the Twitter Files) versus the duties you’re hiring for? Or are you running your team to be more skeptical by default of reports from the feds?”

“Be skeptical of all claims until proven with evidence,” Rodericks replied. “GEC had terrible methodology for their social media research. As a govt org they have a greater responsibility to be accurate when making claims.”

But X users are more skeptical of Rodericks’ commitment to free speech, and they let their disapproval be known.

ADVERTISEMENT

Orwell would likely keep rolling if he knew about X’s new plan to verify a user’s identity.

The platform is now requesting that users snap a selfie of themselves and upload it along with a photo of their government-issued ID. Doing so will reportedly be “necessary to enable the Blue features!” according to by app researcher Nima Owji.

The information, along with data collected from a user’s profile, will be used “for the purpose of safety and security, including preventing impersonation,” according to X.

“The personal information submitted is handled by AU10TIX, an identity verification company based in Israel,” PC Mag reports. “The process requires users to consent to X storing their information for up to 30 days and sharing it with AU10TIX for an identity check to occur.”

“Well…if they require ID for @XBlue,” said one user, “I’m canceling.”

 

Melissa Fine
Latest posts by Melissa Fine (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles