In recent months, Twitter, for me and many others, has become an increasingly toxic place. The same can be said of any social media platform, depending on your perspective, usage, and overall personality. Personally, I go to Twitter to learn, spread knowledge, and engage occasionally. I see it as a safe space to help my growth and education progress. However, the last couple months I have found myself deleting the app from my phone multiple times and even deactivating my account altogether. While I have not been subjected to verbally abusive treatment (as is the norm for many online), I do have an abundance of built-up frustrations with this platform that, at times, seems to refuse to hold its users accountable. It has a responsibility to make sure its users are safe while using the app.

Dear Twitter (aka Jack Dorsey, CEO),

Twitter was founded as a way for people to stay connected on a larger scale. It allowed individuals from all around the world to be able to reach each other, defying the limitation of physical distance. Having to do so in only 140 characters was the twist that drew a lot of people in. It was different so it grew and grew and morphed into the Twitter we know today.

Unfortunately, the Twitter that we know today is drastically different than what it was intended to be in a lot of ways. To be fair, I still love Twitter. It has become such an important educational tool, which is the only reason I still come back to it time after time. There are so many amazing and insightful people on Twitter that have made me appreciate the platform in a unique way. However, it is often these people that are the targets of verbal abuse and harassment for speaking on their personal experiences.

I have seen mutuals (people that I follow that also are following me) harassed for hours by literal Nazis as they begged @twitter to do something about the endless stream of violent anti-Semitism they were receiving for simply existing. This is one example but it occurs on a daily basis to thousands of people. Oftentimes, from the instances that I saw it occurring on my timeline, you, Twitter, do absolutely nothing. It has become a running joke that Twitter is useless when it comes to harassment. Meanwhile, I have seen people get their accounts suspended for simply using the word "jerk" in a response tweet.

The inconsistency on your platform is infuriating. The unresponsive and unreliable nature of your platform's administrators is driving people away. While I'm sure there will always be Twitter users, you will have lost a multitude of people who made the platform great. In today's climate, it is imperative that you do not let people like literal Nazis run your platform. Re-evaluate your priorities and make a change. Listen to the valuable users and what they have to say about improving Twitter; they probably know the platform better than you do at this point.