In this illustration photo taken on September 27, 2013, silhouettes of people holding mobile phones are projected along with the Twitter logo. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration

Aug 23 (Reuters) – Twitter (TWTR.N) is uniting teams working to reduce toxic content and spambots.

The social media company will combine its health experience team, which works to reduce misinformation and harmful content, with its Twitter service team, which is responsible for reviewing user-reported profiles and removing spam accounts. The new group will be called “Health Products and Services (HPS),” according to an email to employees.

Ella Irwin, vice president of health products and Twitter services, who joined the company in June, will lead the HPS team.

In an email to staff, Irwin said, “We need teams that are focused on a specific problem, work together as one team, don’t work in silos, and focus on a specific problem.” added that it “prioritizes ruthlessly.”

The creation of the HPS team makes even more sense because the company is challenged on multiple fronts. Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, a former security chief and prominent hacker, has accused the company of misleading federal regulators about its defenses against hackers and spamming his accounts.read more

Twitter is in court with Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk.

Twitter said on Tuesday that Zatko’s allegations are high-profile and aimed at harming the company, and that it supports disclosures about spam and bot accounts.

Twitter is also preparing to beef up its defenses against the spread of misinformation ahead of the US midterm elections in November.read more

A Twitter spokesperson said the restructuring of the Toxic Content and Spam team “reflects our continued commitment to prioritizing and focusing the team to pursue goals.”

The move also comes with senior executives such as Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck, who oversaw consumer products and earnings, leaving the company in recent months amid turmoil with Musk.

The team responsible for reducing harmful or toxic content has been hit hard by recent staff turnovers, according to two employees who spoke on condition of anonymity.

At least one current employee said the reorganization didn’t seem to have a big impact on their work.

A former employee who worked on security at Twitter said the roots of the company’s problems with spam accounts are historically too deep for a single team to manage, so he’s not optimistic that organizational changes will lead to improvements. said. He refused to give his name for fear of compromising his future employment opportunities.

Reporting by Sheila Dang of Dallas.Additional reporting by Katie Paul Editing by Kenneth Lee, Matthew Lewis and Jamie Freed

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.