A popular American news source has confirmed that Twitter runs a program called ‘Project Guardian’ which gives priority to protecting specific users from trolls and bullies. The reports say that Project Guardian maintains a list of thousands of users that Twitter considers high risk for harassment, this list includes musicians, professional athletes, journalists, and other users who are particularly prominent controversial characters and users with very large followings on Twitter. These prominent people often receive a heightened level of protection from the social network’s content moderators under this secretive program that seeks to limit their exposure to trolls, bullies and haters using.
Although Twitter claims its rules are the same for all users, Project Guardian ensures that potential issues that can affect these prominent users and the company are dealt with before erupting into viral nightmares. Most members of this VIP group have no idea that they’re part of it, however, the thinking behind the program is to remove abusive/ prevent harmful content with the potential for spreading on the social media site from spreading. It also helps protect the Twitter experience of those prominent users, making them more likely to keep tweeting—and perhaps less apt to complain about the abuse, bullying, or harassment issues publicly.
According to Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, while talking to news source -Bloomberg disclosed that a list of users makes up its Project Guardian list, but particularly they don’t have to be celebrities. He explains that one too many times, users who get caught up in viral Twitter drama are included, but typically only temporarily. These are people who unintentionally find the spotlight on themselves because of a controversial tweet, or because they’ve suddenly been targeted by a Twitter mob. Once the 15 seconds of fame wears off, Twitter is bound to remove such users from the Project Guardian protection, while others have a more permanent place on the list.
According to Bloomberg, a user may get added to the program when a Twitter employee notices that they’re seeing large volumes of hateful messages, even if that user doesn’t realize it. On the other hand, a high-profile user may even have their manager personally ask Twitter to offer more protection. Examples of users who have enrolled in Project Guardian in the past include makeup artist James Charles, Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim, as well as former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. Twitter also uses the program to create some form of social protection for journalists whose daily function revolves around discussing very sensitive and controversial topics.
In addition to Project Guardian, it was also revealed that the microblogging and social networking platform uses certain factors in prioritizing responses to user reports. Some of these factors include a post’s impression, number of followers, as well as whether the reported tweet is actually harmful or not. Although no particular incident seems to have given room for the program creation, however reports say that the program might’ve been around for about two years or more.
The Project Guardian program was created for numerous reasons asides shield users from trolls and haters, it was created with the intention to protect Twitter from bad PR. Earlier in the year, Twitter came under fire for the role of not being able to tame bullies that trolled former model Chrissy Teigen. In that incident, Twitter Trolls made unfounded claims of Teigen being a part of a conspiracy theory that involves a celebrity pedophile ring. The model in question made a decision to quit Twitter as a result of these unfounded allegations and bullying, although she has since returned. But critics continue to put Twitter under fire for not doing more to protect Teigen.
Olagoke Ajibola is a creative writer and content producer with an eye for details and excellence. He has a demonstrated history of telling stories for TV, Film and Online. Aside from being fascinated by the power of imagination, his other interest are travel, sport, reading and meeting people.
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