Twitter CEO Dick Costolo was abject back in February when he courageously took responsibility for trying to change the bullying culture that persisted on Twitter. “We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform,” Costolo wrote. But the bullying culture only threatened Twitter’s reputation (and some of its users)–no mean thing, but it didn’t hurt the bottom line.
Now the quiet but pervasive presence of pornography on Twitter threatens something at least as vital to a company, which is under constant pressure to monetize against its stratospheric valuation. Twitter porn threatens revenues. Adweek reports that Nielsen pulled one of its paid ads on Twitter after it was repeatedly shown next to pornographic content like a “Homemade Porn” profile. Now in addition to trying to protect its vulnerable users, Twitter must redouble efforts to protect the reputations of brands that pay Twitter to advertise on the service. Tough road for a company that prides itself on not practicing censorship. But as evidenced earlier, Dick Costolo is the man for the job.
