According to a new study, there has been an increase in hate speech on Twitter ever since Elon Musk officially acquired the social media platform last week.
A study done by Montclair State University found that after Elon Musk acquired Twitter on October 27, hate speech tweets swamped the social media platform.
According to CBS News, the study indicated that “vulgar and hostile” speech immediately increased after Musk took control of Twitter. Prior to Musk’s ownership, the social media platform never reported more than 84 tweets containing hateful terms in a single hour, according to the study.
The Montclair State University study monitored the frequency of homophobic, antisemitic, and racial hate-related phrases used shortly following Musk’s takeover. Research revealed that, compared to the 84 tweets per hour in the week preceding Musk’s takeover, 398 hate tweets were sent out every hour in the first 12 hours following the acquisition’s conclusion. During that time, the average number of hateful tweets increased from 1,000 to 4,778.
The research also claimed that over 67% of the tweets after Musk’s acquisition had a negative tone to them, indicating a rise in negative sentiment. It noted, “In sum, the content and tone of Twitter posts became measurably more oriented towards hate speech on the day Elon Musk became CEO of the company with significant reach attained for this hate content.”
According to Forbes, research by the Network Contagion Research Institute reported that during the first 12 hours of Musk’s ownership, use of the N-word soared by 500%. The number of tweets using derogatory language toward LGBTQ people as well as anti-Semitic and racial derogatory terms also soared.
Although the research makes it clear that the Musk takeover resulted in an instant rise in hostile tone on the network, the precise cause of this is still unknown. Researchers said that it’s “speculative” to determine whether Musk’s possible changes in policy would have triggered the surge.
However, it’s possible that users turned to hostile language because they believed they would no more be suspended or barred from the network based on Musk’s previous statements on free speech. The Washington Post claims that his ownership appears to have led some accounts to believe that the previous rules against bigotry are no longer in effect.
As per Fortune, despite calling for greater speech freedom on Twitter, Musk told users in a Twitter post that he couldn’t allow the network to become a “free-for-all,” Another possibility, according to experts, is that having an “unmoderated platform was possibly a source of excitement.”
On October 27, billionaire tycoon Elon Musk, who also serves as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, assumed control of the social media network and pledged to relax its content regulations. In a statement last week, Musk stated that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
The creation of a “content moderation council” to update and improve company standards under Musk was also announced by Twitter last week. Musk intends to create a moderation council with a range of viewpoints to oversee rules over content and accounts.
I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.