Disdain speech on Twitter after Elon Musk's takeover

Elon Musk promised when he assumed control at Twitter that the site wouldn't turn into a "free-for-all hellscape" however new research suggests he has some work to do in this field.


The use of contemptuous language on Twitter has increased substantially since Elon Musk dominated, as indicated by new research.


Mr. Musk finished his $44bn acquisition of the social systems administration stage in late October, immediately laying off generally 50% of the organization's 8,000 workers.

Twitter after Elon Musk's takeover


Albeit the head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth said at the time that cutting edge balance staff had encountered "the least effect", last week - having resigned - he said Twitter was not safer under Mr. Musk.


On Friday, the US-based Community for Countering Computerized Disdain (CCDH) released a report checking out the increase in scornful language on the stage.


Among its findings:


• Everyday use of "n****r" was up three-crease since Mr. Musk's takeover, contrasted with the normal seen across 2022

• Everyday use of "c***s" was up by 33% in the same period

• Everyday use of "f****t" was up by 58%

• Everyday use of "tr***y" was up by 62%


The news comes just days after Mr. Musk tweeted his congratulations to the group on Twitter, saying "disdain speech impressions" were "somewhere around 33% from pre-spike levels".


He also asserted on 18 November that Twitter's new approach was "the right to speak freely of speech, yet not the opportunity of reach", adding: "Negative/disdain tweets will be max deboosted and demonetized, so no ads or other income to Twitter.


"You won't find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is not unique concerning the rest of the web.

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However, the CCDH report found that normal commitment with tweets containing slurs had also bounced.

Mr. Musk's takeover

In the two weeks before Mr. Musk's takeover, the typical number of replies, retweets, and likes for tweets using "n****r", "tr***y" or "f****t" was 13.3 however after the takeover, it leaped to 49.5 - an increase of 272%.


As a case study, the research took a gander at hostile LGBTQ+ tweets after the Colorado Springs shooting, where five individuals were killed at an LGBTQ dance club on 19 November.


They focused on the derisive "prepping" manner of speaking, which they said was seen on tweets tens of millions of times after the shooting.

Mr. Musk took over Twitter

In the three months before Mr. Musk took over Twitter, the 10 accounts most responsible for that manner of speaking acquired 222,709 followers a month between them, required as a norm across the three months.


Soon after Musk's takeover, they acquired a sum of 944,205 followers - an increase of over 320%.


It is not the first time concerns have been raised about how Mr. Musk's leadership is evolving Twitter.


The moving back of the stage's Coronavirus misinformation strategy is supposed to give more opportunity to be hostile to vaxxers, while his declaration of a "general amnesty" will permit the arrival of those previously restricted for disregarding Twitter rules.


Among them are racial oppressors, misogynists, and extreme right conspiracy theorists.


On Friday, Mr. Musk had all the earmarks of addressing the CCDH report when he tweeted: "Disdain speech impressions - number of times a tweet was seen - keep on declining, despite significant user development."


He promised that information would be published week by week, adding: "The right to speak freely of speech doesn't mean opportunity of reach.


"Antagonism should and will get less reach than positivity.


"There are around 500 million tweets each day and billions of impressions, so disdain speech impressions are less than 0.1% of what's seen on Twitter.