An astronomer claims she has been shut out of her Twitter account since August because a video of a meteor shower was misinterpreted as containing obscene content by the social media giant’s moderation bots.
Mary McIntyre from Oxfordshire created a six-second animated video clip of the Perseid meteor shower four months ago, but it was removed after being detected as containing “intimate content without the participant’s agreement.”
Ms. McIntyre stated that she can only return to the platform if she deletes the tweet and checks a box acknowledging that she violated the rules, which she denies.
In August, Mary McIntyre from Oxfordshire created a six-second animation of the Perseid meteor shower.
She told R4’s Today Programme that she will only be permitted to return to the site if she deletes the tweet and checks a box acknowledging that she broke the rules, which she denied doing.
She stated on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, ‘It’s really insane. I obtain a DBS check annually since I work extensively with school children, brownies, and scouts
I do not like for it to appear on my record that I have shared pornographic material when I have not.
She said, ‘I must have exhausted all available appeals.
We discovered a contact form on the assistance website, and I’ve used it at least eight times with no response.
Ms. McIntyre’s message is just one example of harmless tweets that have been flagged as breaking Twitter’s rules in the wake of Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform.
In an effort to increase revenues, massive layoffs have resulted in the elimination of the teams tasked with combating misinformation. Outsourced moderators found themselves unemployed over the weekend.
Saturday, Twitter terminated its contractors who monitor hate speech and other dangerous content. Some of these contractors were unaware of their termination until they were unable to access their work systems.
On November 4, Twitter sacked the majority of its full-time workers through email.
Nick Acheson, whose Twitter handle is @themarshtit, stated that he tweets “nearly exclusively” about wildlife.
Mr. Acheson reported being suspended from Twitter after tweeting about ‘pink-footed geese’
Earlier this week, a conservationist was reprimanded for tweeting about pink-footed geese as they flew over his home.
Nick Acheson, who tweets under the handle @themarshtit, stated that he tweets ‘almost exclusively’ about nature and was surprised to discover that a tweet he sent on Monday morning had been flagged as ‘violating’ the platform’s rules.
On Monday morning, Mr. Acheson remarked, “The Icelandic pink-footed geese who visit here during the winter flew past my house.”
Mr. Acheson, who calls geese “my thing” and has a book forthcoming on the subject, was pleased to catch the nature event and tweeted “when pinks fly past our house wailing in the mist.”
However, he noticed that he received a notification from Twitter requesting that he delete the tweet for “violating one of our rules”
Similar to Ms. McIntyre, he was informed that by deleting the tweet, he admitted to having broken the rules.
He stated on the Today show, “Therefore, I proceeded to look into the regulations, and the Twitter rules are rather ominous.”
“They are full of rules about inciting violence and hate speech, and I cannot in any way reconcile my rather innocuous tweet with any of these violations.”
I have not been informed of a specific rule infringement, so I am hesitant to delete my tweet and so admit that I have broken the rules.
Following the debacle, Mr. Acheson’s account was suspended but has since been reinstated.
Twitter has been reached out to for comment.