Twitter is getting worse under Elon Musk

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Thursday, May 4, 2023 09:30 (GMT+7)
5 hours ago

Since Elon Musk took over, hateful content on Twitter has increased and misinformation propagandists have found ways to exploit the platform.

A year ago, Elon Musk announced that he wanted to buy Twitter to eliminate fake accounts on the platform and turn it into a "public square" for free speech. At that time, social media experts were concerned that Twitter under Musk would loosen content censorship and the platform would be flooded with violent and hateful content.

Now, new data shows that concern has come true.

“Twitter’s commitment to content moderation remains unwavering,” Musk has said. But at the same time, Twitter has fired most of its trust and safety team, which was tasked with removing content that violated the platform’s policies.

Hateful content on the rise

As a result, hate speech on Twitter has increased dramatically and the number of fake accounts on the platform has not decreased, according to a new study from the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute. Instead of being a public square, Twitter has become a place where people spread violent content.

“Twitter is no longer the place to go to find opinions and see what the most interesting people in the world are saying,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

The researchers found that the increase in hateful content began almost immediately after Musk took over the platform, as many users began “testing” what types of content would slip through Twitter’s new censorship net.

Elon Musk said the platform was "freed" after he took over. Photo: Reuters .

“On the day Musk officially took over the platform, many right-wing figures began posting anti-LGBTQ content with tropes, specifically the term ‘groomer,’ implying that LGBTQ people prey on young people,” said Kayla Gogarty, research director at Media Matters for America.

Twitter's policies do not allow slurs and jokes that are “intended to undermine or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about protected categories.”

“These accounts anticipated that Musk would ease up on moderation, and hate speech did not decrease immediately after Elon Musk bought Twitter, suggesting that whatever moderation was being implemented was insufficient,” said Keith Burghardt, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California.

The university's research team also noted that Twitter lacks transparency, making it impossible to assess whether the increase in hateful content is due to increased posting of this type of content after Musk took over, or to a loosening of censorship.

How Twitter Management Makes Things Worse

Moreover, Twitter has become increasingly less transparent. In February, the company announced it would stop providing free access to AP—a tool that allows academics and researchers to download and interact with the platform’s data. It will be harder for researchers to analyze how hate speech is changing with Musk’s continued leadership than it is today.

Last December, several accounts that had been banned by Twitter were allowed to go back online, including notorious figures like Andrew Tate, who was arrested in Romania for human trafficking, and Liz Crokin, who promotes the QAnon conspiracy theory.

A series of accounts that were banned by Twitter for inciting hate have now been reactivated. Photo: Reuters .

Recent changes to Twitter’s account verification system, Twitter Blue, where users can pay for a blue check mark, have also caused chaos. Last November, a fake account impersonating pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly posted an announcement about giving away free insulin, sending the company’s stock down nearly 5%.

“Our analysis shows that Twitter Blue is being weaponized, especially by disinformation spreaders,” said Ahmed from CCDH.

“Scientists and journalists find themselves in a hostile environment where their information is not as widely available as the misinformation and hate spread by bad actors,” the expert said.

While multiple organizations with different data sources show the platform's deteriorating health, Twitter's strategy is to deny rather than address the problem, according to Ahmed.

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