Hate speech on Twitter is rising under Elon Musk, say campaigners
Previously suspended accounts have been allowed to return, including that of racist rapper Ye – formerly known as Kanye West.
Hate speech on Twitter is rising under Elon Musk’s ownership, online safety campaigners have said, despite the billionaire’s claims that it has been declining.
The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said Mr Musk’s recent tweet suggesting that hate speech impressions are down by a third was “misleading” because it focused on how often tweets were seen, rather than how many containing hate speech were actually being posted to the site.
In its own research, the CCDH said it has found that, since Mr Musk took over the social media platform at the end of October, the number of tweets containing racist and other hateful terms has risen substantially.
The data showed that the number of tweets containing the N-word are being posted at triple the rate compared with before Mr Musk’s takeover.
And it revealed that tweets containing other racist, homophobic and transphobic terms are also being posted more regularly.
The group analysed tweets from the month preceding Mr Musk’s takeover and compared them with posts in the week leading up to his tweet about hate speech impressions.
The CCDH said Mr Musk’s focus on tweet impressions was obscuring the fact that the number of hateful tweets being hosted by Twitter was actually rising, which it said was a failure to enforce platform community standards.
Before his takeover, the billionaire businessman had said he believed Twitter should allow more free speech and that he would loosen content moderation to enable this to happen.
Mr Musk has also allowed some previously suspended accounts to return, but has now suspended the account of rapper Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – after he posted an image that appeared to show a symbol combining a swastika and a Jewish Star of David.
Mr Musk said the US rapper had “violated our rule against incitement to violence”.
However, despite this, CCDH chief executive Imran Ahmed said the Twitter owner is not doing enough to keep the platform safe.
“Elon Musk has again been exposed as misleading users and advertisers, claiming mission accomplished despite his clear failure to meet his own self-proclaimed standards to clamp down on vicious bigotry,” he said.
“Community standards ensure users feel welcome and advertisers’ brands are safe.
“Advertisers can either enable Mr Musk’s gaslighting, or send a message and stop their marketing dollars enabling the spread of deadly hate.
“It’s time for advertisers to do their bit to counter hate in our societies.”
Advertising accounts for the vast majority of Twitter’s revenue, and some companies have already paused their advertising on the platform over concerns about Mr Musk’s approach.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss has already begun looking for ways to diversify Twitter’s income stream by starting to charge a monthly subscription fee to verify users on the site through its Twitter Blue service, although that rollout is currently on pause after some bad actors used their verified status to pose as public figures and businesses on the site.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.