Twitter chief’s online abuse embarrassment: “We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls”

Twitter chief executive officer Dick Costolo has taken personal responsibility for the social media giant’s problems dealing with harassment and abuse from users.

In an internal memo obtained by The Verge, Costolo spoke of being embarrassed by the company’s failures.

“We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we’ve sucked at it for years,” Costolo wrote.

“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.”

“I take PERSONAL responsibility for our failure to deal with this as a company.”

Costolo vowed to personally lead an increased effort by Twitter to deal with harassment and abuse on the platform.

“We’re going to start kicking these people off right and left and making sure that when they issue their ridiculous attacks, nobody hears them,” he said.

“I’m going to take full responsibility for making sure that the people working night and day on this have the resources they need to address the issue, that there are clear lines of responsibility and accountability, and that we don’t equivocate in our discussions and choices.”