In the last week of 2022, the twitter and its owner, the billionaire Elon Musk, became involved in a new controversy. That's because on Friday, the 24th, some users noticed that Twitter's suicide prevention tool had been disabled, which generated some buzz on the network. However, shortly afterwards the feature returned to the air, along with a response from Musk.
Media pressures Musk
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As soon as users began to notice the lack of the #ThereisHelp feature, which in free translation is “There is Help”, there was pressure in the international media. Quickly, several news sites reported that the suicide prevention tool no longer existed and that the removal was by order of Musk.
Faced with the new controversy, Twitter's security chief, Ella Irwin, went public to say that it was not the end of the tool. Furthermore, Irwin also made it clear that the tool would undergo some adjustments and corrections and that it would be back very soon. Until then, Musk had not commented on the change.
However, 15 hours after publication by the Reuters portal, Musk went public and responded to the story itself and said that the newspaper spread false news, as the tool was still there. In the end, Musk even said that “Twitter does not prevent suicide”, in a clear statement that this was not the responsibility of the network.
Suicide prevention online
The #ThereIsHelp tool works in a similar way to the various suicide prevention resources on social media. In this case, a banner explaining the search for psychological help appears when the user searches for certain topics that show interest in taking their own life.
Other networks, such as Facebook, Instagram and even Google itself, work with suicide prevention through tools like this one. Still, Irwin said Twitter intends to revisit that approach in search of a more effective way to address the problem.
