Twitter's Video Scrolling Feature Displays Disturbing Content, Users Report

After Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted about the platform’s video scrolling feature last Sunday, many users have raised concerns regarding disturbing content being shown to them on their feeds. 

According to some netizens, these graphic videos portray police brutality, vaccine misinformation, and gun violence, many of which had been posted in just the last two days. 

Twitter user Heidi Briones replied to Musk’s tweet to express her concern, calling videos being shown by the feature “wild.” In response, Musk acknowledged that some of them are “indeed quite edgy.” 

Some of the videos are indeed quite edgy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2023

One user reported seeing videos of people getting shot and explained that this type of content was not typical to their Twitter algorithm. Another tweeted about watching a cute dog video before seeing a person impaling themselves on the back of a truck.

I stopped doing that feature when it took me from a cute dog video to a dead guy who impaled himself on the back of a truck

— Nefarious Poison Fiend (@sasquatch_god) June 26, 2023

While the TikTok-like vertical scrolling feature was implemented last October, there are many potential factors as to why content moderation has been less strict in the past months. 

On June 3, Twitter head of brand safety and ad quality A.J. Brown and VP of product for trust and safety Ella Irwin resigned from their posts.  

Irwin’s role was to oversee content moderation and user interaction on the platform, while Brown was in charge of making sure that ads didn’t appear alongside inappropriate content.  

Last March, several Twitter insiders also came forward saying users are no longer protected from trolling and other harmful content, as protection features have been difficult to maintain amid a “chaotic working environment” following Musk’s takeover.