NEW YORK (Archyde.com) – Twitter has reinstated a feature that highlights the phone numbers of organizations specializing in, among other things, suicide prevention, after it came under pressure from some users and groups of consumer protection.
Archyde.com reported on Friday that the feature was taken down a few days ago, citing two people familiar with the matter, who said the decision was made by social media owner Elon Musk.
After the article was published, Ella Irwin, Head of Trust and Safety at Twitter, confirmed the removal and called it temporary.
“We have fixed and revamped our proposals. They have been temporarily removed during this time,” Ella Irwin said in an email to Archyde.com.
“We plan to put them back in place next week,” she added.
About 15 hours after the information was released, Elon Musk, who did not respond to requests for comment, tweeted “Wrong, she’s still here.”
“Twitter doesn’t do suicide prevention,” he also said on social media in response to criticism from users.
The feature, known as #ThereIsHelp, placed a banner at the top of search results for certain topics. It listed contacts of support organizations in many countries.
Its removal had led some consumer groups and some Twitter users to express concerns about the well-being of vulnerable users of the platform.
(Reporting Kenneth Li in New York, Sheila Dang in Dallas, Paresh Dave in Oakland and Fanny Potkin in Singapore; French version Kate Entringer)