Twitter spars with Australian lawmakers over abusive posts

Social media platforms from Twitter to Facebook are under growing pressure from lawmakers across the world to explain their roles in amplifying extremism, polarisation and hate speech. — Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

Twitter Inc executives sparred with a panel of Australian lawmakers investigating harmful material online and the social media platform’s measures to stem abuse.

In a virtual hearing Friday, Lucy Wicks, chair of the Australian parliament’s Select Committee on Social Media and Online Safety, read out some of the abuse directed by Twitter users toward a prominent local female journalist. Wicks, a Liberal Party lawmaker, questioned how Twitter policed offensive material when so much of it remained on the platform.