For many technology companies out there, and in particular, for social media companies with substantial user bases such as Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR), the ability to monitor abuse and harassment has become a front and centre issue among many social justice warriors, and investors, alike.
In late December, a short report was issued on social media platform Twitter, alleging the company was "uninvestable" and "the Harvey Weinstein of social media." The report, issued from highly regarded Citron Research, focused on the perceived lack of action with respect to progressive social mediation of the platform. Of concern in the note is primarily the ability of Twitter to grow advertising revenue for a platform which has been known to be extremely hostile toward women, a fact which apparently got many investors thinking after the report was released.
Shares of Twitter plummeted on the news (which happened to coincide with December's heavy year-end selloff), though shares of the media platform have rebounded to approximately the levels they were trading at before the report was released.
In this case, my issue Twitter has much less to do with the alleged abuse and harassment on the platform than with the company's current fundamentals; certainly, the negative impact from an advertiser-led boycott would be no good. That said, Twitter has struggled to get out of the red since inception, and boycott or no boycott, the future may not be as bright as many tech-focused investors seem to think. Until Twitter can turn a regular profit, I will remain on the sidelines here.
Invest wisely, my friends.
Tech Insider
