Does Big Brother Watch need to keep an eye on Twitter’s Nick Pickles?

This week Twitter has announced the launch of a new Trust & Safety Council measure which aims to prevent users from being subject to ‘abusive, hateful or unpleasant blather’. However, critics have claimed the council is really a censorship tool which will be used to stop unpopular viewpoints being aired — with Mr S’s colleague Brendan O’Neill writing on Coffee House that the ‘Orwellian’ safety council ‘makes a mockery of free speech’.

Defending the measure is Nick Pickles, Twitter’s UK head of policy. He has done his best to explain the proposals in a piece for the Guardian:

‘If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that the internet’s growth has brought into the open some challenging, even upsetting, viewpoints. These viewpoints, which existed long before the iPhone, have become more visible because of the power of the technology we have at our fingertips. The internet has become a real-time global mirror, reflecting society in a way that is not always comfortable to look at.