DeepSummary
The episode begins with host Ira Glass reflecting on his experiences falling off his bike during his morning commute and the thoughts that go through his mind during those accidents. The main segment, Act One, revisits a boat mishap involving producer Ike Sriskandarajah and his friends years ago, where new information sheds light on the true events of that day. In Act Two, Casey Newton from the Platformer newsletter shares an insider's account of Yoel Roth, the former head of Trust & Safety at Twitter, and his experiences during Elon Musk's tumultuous takeover of the company.
In Act One, Ike recounts the story of how he and his friends bought an old boat for $400 and named it "Marjorie." On one fateful day, the boat started sinking in the middle of Boston Harbor with nine people on board. As the situation grew dire, a heroic passenger named Kath took charge, distributing life jackets and waving for help. Years later, Ike learns that their former friend Max, who had been dismissive of the crisis at the time, had actually called for assistance, contradicting the long-held narrative.
Act Two delves into Yoel Roth's tenure at Twitter, from his role in moderating content, including adding warning labels to former President Trump's tweets, to his experiences after Elon Musk's acquisition of the company. Roth details his interactions with Musk, the chaotic rollout of Twitter Blue, and his eventual resignation due to Musk's reckless approach to content moderation. The segment highlights the challenges of maintaining online trust and safety while grappling with free speech issues.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Content moderation is a complex and high-stakes endeavor, with decisions having far-reaching implications for online discourse, user safety, and corporate reputations.
- Narratives and perceptions of events can shift drastically when new information comes to light, challenging long-held assumptions and understandings.
- Moments of crisis can reveal profound insights about individuals' mindsets, priorities, and decision-making processes.
- The inherent tension between promoting free speech and maintaining online safety creates significant challenges for social media platforms and content moderators.
- Personal biases and perspectives can heavily influence content moderation decisions, underscoring the need for clear policies and processes.
- The role of content moderators is often underappreciated and misunderstood, despite their crucial work in maintaining online spaces.
- The internet's potential for fostering connection and community is both remarkable and fraught with potential dangers, necessitating responsible moderation.
- High-profile individuals and companies can wield immense influence over online narratives and discourses, with far-reaching consequences.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “It felt very important in that moment for the timing to be exactly joined up for some reason we counted down i clicked the button and then i refreshed the public view of the tweet and saw the label and the communications team said we've got it from here and i said okay i have to go back and deal with the movers now and i hung up the call and i closed my laptop and i crossed the street back into my apartment.“ by Yoel Roth
- “I wake up one morning the third day that my husband and i are in our new home to my phone exploding because kellyanne conway has just talked about me on fox news and has said that i'm responsible for the censorship of the president's account and am responsible for censorship at twitter more generally and in that moment everything exploded.“ by Yoel Roth
- “There they had a set of kind of convoluted rules about what types of nudity you were allowed to show in which places so nudity fine but not all nudity so there were specifics and he described to me a system of color coding images of red yellow green and then a team of people who were responsible for making those designations and i'll never forget he said the people doing these reviews are almost entirely straight women and i was just floored in that moment of thinking god there's a team of heterosexual women who have to look at the depraved things that gay men are posting on the internet i'm.“ by Yoel Roth
- “There was a wild new case to examine almost every foreign governments impersonating their enemies real people organizing harassment campaigns impossible debates over what should count as hate speech and regular meetings over whether to put labels on tweets that didnt quite violate the companys rules but would benefit from more context like about COVID.“ by Casey Newton
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Episode Information
This American Life
This American Life
6/23/24
It's funny the things that go through your head during a disaster.
- Prologue: Host Ira Glass has fallen off his bike a number of times at this point. He reflects on what goes through his head as he’s going down. (2 minutes)
- Act One: Producer Ike Sriskandarajah revisits a maritime disaster that left an impact on a group of friends from his youth. What he learns forever changes their impressions of that day. (23 minutes)
- Act Two: When to leave Twitter is a question lots of executives faced when Elon Musk took over the company — those who weren't immediately fired, anyway. We hear an insider’s account from the man who ran Trust & Safety at the company, until he couldn’t stand it anymore. (28 minutes)
Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org