Self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk officially bought Twitter on October 27th, and in the hours following the deal, a slew of bigoted troll accounts appeared to test the limits of his moderation policies. According to The Washington Post, in the 12 hours after Musk acquired Twitter, use of the N-word surged 500%.
“Elon now controls twitter. Unleash the racial slurs. K—S AND N—–S,” one account said, using slurs for Jewish and Black people. “I can freely express how much I hate n—–s … now, thank you elon,” another said. One account, created this month, used a swastika as its profile picture and tweeted antisemitic memes alongside retweeting posts from Musk.
Much of this hate speech was organized on platforms like 4chan, said the Network Contagion Research Institute, which analyzes content posted on social media to detect potential threats. In addition to testing whether their trolling would slide under the new management, NCRI lead intelligence analyst Alex Goldenberg said users were trying to “to make as big a mess as possible for Twitter’s new management.”
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Racism wasn’t the only hate speech that surged after Musk’s Twitter acquisition. Trans activists noted an increase in anti-LGTBQ content as well, including harassment from anonymous accounts that would dead name prominent transgender women and use words like “groomer,” insinuating that trans people prey on young children.
“Almost immediately I noticed an increase in anti-trans harassment, it’s very visible,” said Erin Reed, a trans activist and legislative researcher. “I’m seeing more people in comments with explicit threats, more misgendering, more harmful slurs. I’ve gotten pictures of me getting shot by a shotgun. It’s a pretty scary environment on Twitter right now.”
In response, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, said the company has “ban[ned] the users involved in this trolling campaign — and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone.”
The day after he bought Twitter, Musk announced that the company would form a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.” “No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes,” he added. “Account reinstatements” was likely a nod to Donald Trump, who Musk previously said would be allowed back on Twitter under his management. Still, in a letter to advertisers after some expressed concerns about the company’s new management, Musk promised that Twitter would not turn into a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.
No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
Nearly all of these accounts are inauthentic. We’ve taken action to ban the users involved in this trolling campaign — and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone. https://t.co/1hUnb1WYPZ
— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) October 30, 2022
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