Elon Musk Says Twitter Didn't Remove Suicide Prevention Tool, Calls It 'Fake News'

Replying to a user, Musk said: "Twitter doesn't prevent suicide".

Twitter's #ThereIsHelp banner pointed users to suicide prevention hotlines.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has denied that the micro-blogging platform removed suicide prevention feature for its users, said the reports were "fake". Media reports earlier claimed that Twitter removed a feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources. The reports, quoting Twitter executives, claimed the feature was removed and was being revamped.

"False, it is still there," the new Twitter owner said in a tweet.

False, it is still there

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2022

Replying to a user, Musk said: "Twitter doesn't prevent suicide".

"The message is actually still up. This is fake news," he added.

1. The message is actually still up. This is fake news.

2. Twitter doesn’t prevent suicide.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2022

The disappearance of the #ThereIsHelp banner, even if it was only momentary, led to criticism of Twitter from some consumer safety advocates, as per media reports.

A Twitter user said: "Mental health support and crisis prevention tools to help integrate with social platforms is incredibly important. Tumblr for example has been doing a great job now".

"Fake News and its publishers should also be blocked on Twitter for a certain period of time," another Musk follower posted.

The #ThereIsHelp banner pointed users to suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources when searching for certain content on Twitter.

As per earlier reports, Twitter head of trust and safety Ella Irwin said, "We have been fixing and revamping our prompts. They were just temporarily removed while we do that." 

She added, "We expect to have them back up next week." 

The removal of the feature has led to concerns about the well-being of vulnerable users on Twitter. 

The development comes amid Musk claiming that impressions, or views, of harmful content, are declining since he took over in October and tweeted graphs showing a downward trend, while researchers and civil rights groups said that there was an increase in tweets with racial slurs and other hateful content. 

In her email to Reuters, Twitter's Irwin said, "Google does really well with these in their search results, and (we) are actually mirroring some of their approach with the changes we are making." 

She added, "We know these prompts are useful in many cases and just want to make sure they are functioning properly and continue to be relevant."

(With inputs from IANS)