What was feared, when Elon Musk clinched his deal with Twitter and became its owner, is now getting confirmed. Statistics reveal some frightening truths. Before Musk’s takeover, hatred spewed against Black Americans on Twitter was, on an average, 1,282 times a day. After he became Twitter’s owner, these jumped to 3,876 times a day. Slurs against gay men jumped from 2,506 times a day before Musk took over to 3,964 times a day after he bought it. Likewise, anti-Semitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism rose over 61 per cent in the two weeks after Musk acquired the site.
These findings are of Centre for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms. Their work gives the most comprehensive picture to date of the transformation of Twitter into a tool for hate-mongers. The numbers are small enough, but they seem to show the shape of things to come.
The policy shift after the sacking of nearly 50 per cent of Twitter staff, including those who used to monitor hate-filled posts, has helped dark forces, including the Islamic State, return to the social networking site with a vengeance. Similarly, accounts associated with QAnon, a Far-Right conspiracy theory group, have paid for and received verified status on Twitter. Nazism is being eulogised on the platform to such an extent that singer-rapper Kanye West, aka Ye, tweeted an image of a Swastika inside the Star of David. His account, which was restricted for a spell in October because of an anti-Semitic tweet, would again be suspended indefinitely, Musk himself was forced to announce.
These changes are alarming, indeed. Experts in the field say they have never before seen such a spurt in hate speech, troublesome content and restoration of previously banned accounts in such a short period on a mainstream social media platform. It is regrettable that Musk is being seen by hate-campaigners – every kind of racist, misogynist and homophobe – as their patron saint ready to give them carte blanche to use his platform to spread hatred.
What is even worse is that Musk claimed that the percentage of hate-filled tweets had come down since he took over. He did not care to substantiate his claim with statistics. Available data refute his contention. When his deal with Twitter was clinched, Musk declared the “bird”, which is the social network platform’s logo, was “freed” meaning no one would be barred from using it. Immediately thereafter, former US President Donald Trump was back on Twitter which had barred him for tweets that could incite violence.
Other social media companies are also increasingly concerned about how content is being moderated on Twitter. According to a report, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, found accounts associated with Russian and Chinese state-backed operators campaigning on its platforms last month. It immediately tried to alert Twitter. But, the latter has not yet responded. Twitter staff, who used to handle such complaints, must have been fired and there is no one at the moment to take note of the developments.
Against this backdrop comes the news that Thierry Breton, a European Union official, has expressed concern to Musk about the spate of hate posts on Twitter and categorically told him the EU would not allow it. He plans to visit Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters soon to make an on-the-spot assessment of its ability to moderate content and combat disinformation.
Be that as it may, liberal space in social networks appears to be under renewed threat after Musk’s entry into the field. Already, Europe is virtually under siege following re-emergence of Far-Right forces capturing one government after another. The US is nearly vertically split into liberal and Far-Right forces. The impetus that anti-democratic forces have got following Twitter’s new ownership is a small but important global indication that the future does not augur well for free thinking and the spirit of tolerance the world over.