--- description: Twitter users are quitting because of trolls title: Dick Costolo Admits Twitter Has a Trolling Problem image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte69ca9689aa89bed/69877ddfe53aba56514d76e0/4528925361.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Google and Facebook Have Already Solved Twitter's Trolling Problem for It by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 5, 2015 7:55 PM CUT  A sign is posted outside of the Twitter headquarters on July 29, 2014 in San Francisco, California. A sign is posted outside of the Twitter headquarters on July 29, 2014 in San Francisco, California.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 5, 2015 7:55 PM CUT Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said this week his company has to do more to combat the bullies—or trolls—that can make expressing an opinion on Twitter so disheartening. The renewed focus on trolling is intended to prevent users from throwing their hands up and quitting the service out of frustration or disgust. In an [internal memo](http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/4/7982099/twitter-ceo-sent-memo-taking-personal-responsibility-for-the "undefined") obtained by The Verge, Costolo wrote to employees, “We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we’ve sucked at it for years. It’s no secret and the rest of the world talks about it every day. We lose core user after core user by not addressing simple trolling issues that they face every day.” The problem isn’t unique to Twitter. Technology companies including Google, Facebook, Tumblr and others rely on a vast network of employees who work behind the scenes, scrubbing inappropriate and illicit content off search results and posts. Google spends millions of dollars wiping pictures of child sexual abuse from the Internet, and Facebook has a massive campus in the Philippines where workers scrub inappropriate content like nude photos or violent videos, [_Wired_ reported in a recent feature story](http://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/ "undefined"). Tumblr screens hate speech, gory photos, and sexually explicit content. As the _Wired_ piece out it: --- > “” --- But Internet abuse has been a particular stumbling block for Twitter, which allows its users to post anonymously, unlike other social media like Facebook and LinkedIn that tie accounts to a person’s real-life identity. The company has said this freedom helps foster a special kind of speech, even encouraging civil disobedience under censorious regimes, during events such as the Arab Spring and mass protests in Turkey in 2013. Anonymous Twitter handles also make it easier for users to harass one another. Robin Williams’ daughter, [Zelda Williams](http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/13/tech/social-media/zelda-williams-twitter/ "undefined") left Twitter last August after receiving insulting images after her father’s suicide, and an op-ed by feminist writer [Lindy West](http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/02/what-happened-confronted-cruellest-troll-lindy-west "undefined") published in the Guardian highlighted the near-constant torment some face on the social media site. At an address in Manhattan on Tuesday, Twitter’s product counsel Laura Pirri reaffirmed the company’s commitment to anonymity on Twitter. “We believe very strongly in the value of speaking anonymously,” said Pirri. “We’ve seen this with human rights activists and journalists speaking in countries where there may be oppressive government regimes… This is a very deliberate policy choice we’ve taken as a company.” Short of requiring users to tweet under their real names, it’s unclear at this point exactly what the company will do to discourage trolls. Twitter improved its tools in December for reporting abuse and partnered with an advocacy group in November to investigate harassment against women. The company has in the past looked to expand its user-protection policies, and could improve its response time time to reports. At Twitter, the stakes are high: the company’s growth has been slowed by some users ditching the service out of frustration, or reducing their activity. At the end of the third quarter Twitter had 284 million monthly active users, an increase of less than 5% from the second quarter. That compares with Facebook’s 1.35 billion monthly active users in the same period. Investors will be listening closely during Twitter’s earnings call on Thursday. ### See The 7 Most Important Tech CEOs You Wouldn't Recognize  Jack Ma, founder of Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, stepped down as that firm's CEO in 2013\. But he's still the company's most public face, and after Alibaba's September IPO, China's single richest man. Scott Eells—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Larry Ellison stunned the tech world in September by announcing he's stepping down as CEO of Oracle, the enterprise software company he co-founded in 1977\. Since Oracle doesn't sell products to the public like Apple or Microsoft, Ellison's a little less-known outside Silicon Valley: But he's a hugely important figure, having heavily influenced Steve Jobs and a host of other tech leaders. Tomohiro Ohsumi—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Tony Hsieh, CEO of shoe-tailer Zappos.com, is a controversial figure in the world of tech chief officers. He's pouring money into Zappos' corporate home of Las Vegas, Nevada, which is welcome by some locals but spurned by others. Still, Zappos is known for being a very fun and very different place to work, thanks in part to Hsieh setting those qualities up as priorities for the company. Noah Berger—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Satya Nadella just took over the reins at Microsoft earlier this year from now-Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, but he's already making his presence known through sizable layoffs and simultaneous acquisitions. Nadella's Microsoft has let go of nearly 15,000 employees this year — a chunk of whom were made redundant when Microsoft closed an approximately $7.2 billion deal for Nokia's device wing. Also on Microsoft's tab? $2.5 billion for the Swedish gaming company behind top-hit Minecraft. Microsoft/Corbis  Linkedin CEO Jeff Weiner, formerly a longtime Yahoo employee, has grown the "Facebook For Professionals'" user base and revenue exponentially since coming becoming CEO in 2009\. He's got quite the fan base, too: His workers, 100% of whom support him as CEO, according to Glassdoor. Robert Galbrath—Reuters/Corbis  John Donahoe has been president and CEO of eBay since 2008\. He's now guiding the company in a time of deep uncertainty: In early 2014, eBay settled a nasty public feud with activist investor Carl Icahn, who wants eBay to spin off payment service PayPal as an independent business — and Icahn isn't the only one who thinks that's a good idea. Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Don Mattrick became CEO of Zynga, the social gaming company that brought us FarmVille, in 2013, coming over from Microsoft. He's been tasked with leading Zynga through a tumultuous period — the now publicly-traded company hasn't been able to replicate its FarmVille success, leaving many to wonder about the company's future. Michal Czerwonka—Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3697077/twitter-trolls/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3697077/twitter-trolls/"},"headline":"Google and Facebook Have Already Solved Twitter's Trolling Problem for It","datePublished":"2015-02-05T19:55:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:45:14.761Z","description":"You have to employ some human monitoring to keep out the bad actors","url":"https://time.com/3697077/twitter-trolls/","keywords":["Tech","Social Networking"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte69ca9689aa89bed/69877ddfe53aba56514d76e0/4528925361.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte69ca9689aa89bed/69877ddfe53aba56514d76e0/4528925361.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Twitter To Report Second Quarter Earnings","caption":"Twitter To Report Second Quarter Earnings","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3697077/twitter-trolls/","name":"Google and Facebook Have Already Solved Twitter's Trolling Problem for It"}}]}] ```