When Elon Musk attempted to take over Twitter, which he has since renamed X and remade in his image, his goal was clear. Musk, a self-described “free speech maximalist,” believed the platform had become too interventionist—and too liberal—in suppressing some voices.
The evidence for this claim has always been shaky: Twitter’s own 2021 research shows that the platform tends to amplify more voices on the right side of the political spectrum than any other. Still, Musk had a goal.
In November 2022, he lifted the ban imposed on former US President Donald Trump – although the once prolific tweeter never returned. And in recent days, he has quietly unblocked the accounts of activist Tommy Robinson and political commentator Katie Hopkins, banned since 2018 and 2020 respectively.
Both thanked Musk for reinstating their accounts on the platform, but those who worked on political disinformation and content moderation on Twitter before Musk fired them after he took over are joining social media experts in saying the decision is dangerous.
“It’s incredibly troubling that these two accounts, so closely associated with abuse and harassment, were unblocked,” said Melissa Ingle, who previously worked as a senior data scientist on Twitter’s content moderation team. “Contrary to what some may think, Twitter did not make these decisions lightly before Musk.”
Ingle said I that the decision to ban both individuals many years ago was a conscious decision based on evidence that they had repeatedly violated Twitter’s terms. “In the case of Hopkins and Robinson, both were banned because they were flagged multiple times by multiple mechanisms.
“Accounts of this size could not be blocked automatically, they had to be escalated to senior management who were very reluctant to block and, importantly, only blocked accounts of this size after repeated violations.” were banned for too many reasons.”
X did not respond to a request for comment on why the ban on Robinson and Hopkins was lifted. However, their invitation to return appears to be a statement from Musk and
“We need to remember that the days of Twitter are over,” says social media expert Matt Navarra. “We are now living in the age of X. And X means extreme.”
Navarra said this is a fundamental change in the way we approach issues, including what is and is not acceptable speech. “What we have now with X is a platform that protects free speech, and that means bringing some of the worst and most toxic characters back onto the platform.”
But this brings problems. Hate speech against X has increased sharply since Musk bought the company for $44 billion in October 2022, according to scientists. Nearly 20 percent of the more than 1,000 accounts Musk restored immediately after taking power promoted hatred and violence, a BBC analysis shows.
This is important in part because of the dangers. .
Advertisers told reporters that hate speech was preventing them from selling their products.
But it is the impact on society that worries those who even saw the decision-making process to ban Robinson and Hopkins. “We have already seen numerous reports from researchers around the world documenting an increase in hate speech and violence against X since Musk took office,” Ingle said.
“It’s too bad we’re leaving them behind.”
Source: I News
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