A feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content has been re-instated by Twitter Inc. after being removed by some users and consumer safety groups.
On Friday, a news agency reported that the feature removed a few days ago. Quoting two people familiar with the matter who said Elon Musk ordered the removal. Twitter’s head of trust and safety Ella Irwin confirmed the removal after the story was published. Moreover, “We’ve been fixing and revamping our prompts. We just temporarily removed them while we do that,” Irwin said in an email. She said they would be back up next week.
Therefore, After not responding to initial requests for comment, Musk tweeted, “False, it is still there 15 hours later.” He also responded to criticism by Twitter users by tweeting, “Twitter doesn’t prevent suicide.” It displayed a banner at the top of search results under the hashtag #ThereIsHelp.
Twitter Restored suicide prevention
![Restored suicide prevention on Twitter](https://awwaken.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/world-without-twitter-300x180.webp)
In addition, it listed contacts for organizations providing support for mental health, HIV, vaccines, child sexual exploitation, Covid-19, gender-based violence, natural disasters, and freedom of expression in many countries.
Exclusive: Twitter removes suicide prevention feature, says it’s under revamp https://t.co/LFOgJ7nbqL pic.twitter.com/qjfSYBpFTS
— Reuters Tech News (@ReutersTech) December 24, 2022
Moreover, Twitter users and consumer safety groups expressed concern about vulnerable users’ well-being after its elimination.
Twitter, Alphabet’s Google, and Meta’s Facebook have for years attempted to direct users to well-known resource providers such as government agencies due to pressure from consumer safety groups. hotlines when they suspect someone may be in danger of harming themselves or others.
Moreover, Twitter’s Irwin wrote in her email, “Google does a great job with these in their search results, and we’re actually mirroring some of their approach with the changes we’re making.” She added, Furthermore, “We know these prompts are very useful and we just want to make sure they continue to be relevant.”