Hate speech has risen dramatically on Twitter following new owner Elon Musk’s takeover, research has found, lifting the lid on the billionaire’s lofty claims of declining hate on the troubled social networking platform under his leadership.
The research, conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit group based in the UK, assessed the situation for hate speech on Twitter following Musk’s high-profile $44 billion acquisition that was completed in October. The report refutes Musk’s claims that hate speech impressions sank by one-third after he acquired the platform, which he has pledged to transform into a haven of free speech according to his own interpretation of the term.
So far, Musk’s erratic decisions and the widely debated vision to monetise the tweeting platform have not yielded any desirable outcomes for the billionaire as he scrambles to win the trust of indecisive advertisers. On the other hand, his free rein to peddlers of online hate and misinformation paints a gloomy picture for the prospects of a healthy online environment on Twitter, as research indicates hate speech is soaring on the platform following his takeover.
The report shows posts targeting people for their race and identity have seen a dramatic surge under Musk’s leadership, with likes, retweets and replies for slurs witnessing an alarming rise of 272 per cent. Derogatory material is gaining more engagement on the platform despite Musk’s promises to “demonetise and deboost” hateful tweets. The research also outlines the stark difference between the average use of hateful and derogatory expressions three months before and after Musk took over the influential social media platform, and how his controversial decisions have allowed accounts spreading various forms of hate and abuse to flourish under the guise of free speech.
Musk’s response to a New York Times article about the findings was “utterly false”. He earlier claimed hate speech was on the decline on Twitter “despite significant user growth” and that Twitter Safety would publish the related data weekly.
The research was released just hours after American rapper Kanye West (now known as Ye), having earlier praised Adolf Hitler on a show, was permanently suspended from Twitter for posting an image of a swastika inside the Star of David. Ye is among the many high-profile suspended names that were reinstated by Musk, who famously polled his millions of followers about whether banned users should be let back on the platform.
The entire episode involving the reversal of rapper’s permanent suspension and then prohibiting him on the platform again shows Musk’s plans to transform Twitter into a hub of what he thinks is “free speech” may not pan out per his utopian expectations. It’s only a matter of time before Musk finds himself choking voices from the very problematic accounts he has reinstated to uphold his idea of free speech absolutism, which, ironically, triggered a crackdown on several verified accounts that parodied him last month. His decision to reinstate former US president Donald Trump, who had been permanently suspended for incitement to violence in the January 2021 Capitol riots, received widespread condemnation, with several digital rights and safety experts questioning the future of expression on the platform. They argued that letting back users who were banned for repeated violations will lead to a rise in hate speech, misinformation, and harassment.
Last week, a former senior employee, who led content moderation at Twitter, also voiced his concerns about Musk’s management and how the platform is less safe under his stewardship.
The findings laid out in the research are not entirely new, however. In October, within hours of Musk acquiring Twitter, malicious actors tested the platform’s boundaries with more harmful content, with early research concluding Twitter was heading in the wrong direction under his leadership. The commitment to combat misinformation, online hate, and toxic ideas also declined significantly, emboldening “extremists and purveyors of hate speech”.
Twitter has undergone a series of changes under Musk’s leadership, most of which have attracted significant criticism, including the scrapping of human rights and key content moderation teams at the firm. A number of senior executives have departed the company of their own accord, refusing to be part of Musk’s rigorous cultural reset. At one point, following Musk’s ultimatum to commit to the new “hardcore” working environment or leave, resignations accompanied by such hashtags as #GoodByeTwitter, #TwitterDown, and #RIPTwitter streamed Twitter in such high numbers that people started speculating a possible global outage.
Concerns piled on that dysfunction at Twitter was unavoidable in the wake of so many key staffers, including engineers working to prevent services outages, exiting the company in droves. But Musk remained defiant and remarked he was not worried as the “best ones” were staying. It will be interesting to see how one of the world’s most influential social media platforms evolves under a billionaire who tried his best to walk away from it and, after being slapped with a lawsuit for failing to complete the deal, made his $44 billion purchase out to be a selfless act to provide people a “common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence”.
