罢飞颈迟迟别谤害羞草研究所檚 is further gutting the teams that battle misinformation on the social media platform as outsourced moderators learned over the weekend they were out of a job.

Twitter and other big social media firms have relied heavily on contractors to track hate and other harmful content.

But many of those content watchdogs have now headed out the door, first when and now as it moves to eliminate an untold number of contract jobs.

Melissa Ingle, who worked at Twitter as a contractor for more than a year, was one of a number of contractors who said they were terminated without notification on Saturday. She said she害羞草研究所檚 concerned that there害羞草研究所檚 going to be an increase in abuse on Twitter with the number of workers leaving.

害羞草研究所淚 love the platform and I really enjoyed working at the company and trying to make it better. And I害羞草研究所檓 just really fearful of what害羞草研究所檚 going to slip through the cracks,害羞草研究所� she said Sunday.

Ingle, a data scientist, said she worked on the data and monitoring arm of 罢飞颈迟迟别谤害羞草研究所檚 civic integrity team. Her job involved writing algorithms to find political misinformation on the platform in countries such as the U.S., Brazil, Japan, Argentina and elsewhere.

Ingle said she was 害羞草研究所減retty sure I was done for害羞草研究所� when she couldn害羞草研究所檛 access her work email Saturday. The notification from the contracting company she害羞草研究所檇 been hired by came two hours later.

害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檒l just be putting my resumes out there and talking to people,害羞草研究所� she said. 害羞草研究所淚 have two children. And I害羞草研究所檓 worried about being able to give them a nice Christmas, you know, and just mundane things like that, that are important. I just think it害羞草研究所檚 particularly heartless to do this at this time.害羞草研究所�

Content-moderation expert Sarah Roberts, an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, tweeted Sunday that around 害羞草研究所�3,000+ contractor employees of Twitter were canned last night.害羞草研究所�

Twitter hasn害羞草研究所檛 said how many contract workers it cut. The company gutted its communications department and hasn害羞草研究所檛 responded to media requests for information since Musk took over.

Contractors also do other jobs to help keep Twitter running,

害羞草研究所淎ll contractors are not content moderation agents,害羞草研究所� Roberts said. 害羞草研究所淐ontractors fulfill many key roles inside the company. But almost all moderation agents are contractors.害羞草研究所�

In the early days after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late October and , the billionaire Tesla CEO sought to assure civil rights groups and advertisers that the platform could continue tamping down hate.

That message was reiterated by 罢飞颈迟迟别谤害羞草研究所檚 then-head of content moderation, Yoel Roth, who tweeted that the Nov. 4 layoffs only affected 害羞草研究所�15% of our Trust & Safety organization (as opposed to approximately 50% cuts company-wide), with our front-line moderation staff experiencing the least impact.害羞草研究所�

Roth has , joining an exodus of high-level leaders who were tasked with privacy protection, cybersecurity and complying with regulations.

Barbara Ortutay And Matt O害羞草研究所檅rien, The Associated Press

Like us on and follow us on .