Twitter has what activists call a cesspool of misinformation, hate plots and racial slurs amid what appears to be reduced content moderation in recent weeks following mass layoffs and an exodus of key personnel focused on user safety.
Musk, a self-proclaimed absolutist of loose speech who finalized his $44 billion purchase of the influential platform in October, stoked alarm by restoring what one expert estimates are more than 27,000 accounts that were once suspended for fueling lies, harassment and violence.
“Recovering those accounts will make the platform a magnet for actors spreading misinformation,” Jonathan Nagler, co-director of New York University’s Center for Politics and Social Media, told AFP.
“And there will most likely be less moderation of hate speech, which will make the platform less hospitable to many users. “
Among those reinstated are far-right activists, anti-Muslim extremists and other peddlers of electoral plots and disinformation about COVID-19, according to research by the nonprofit Media Matters of dozens of restored accounts with millions of combined subscribers.
Among those who may return is former US President Donald Trump, who was imposed a “permanent” ban via Twitter after his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump has resisted the offer to return so much that he has stayed on Truth Social, a platform he founded where his followers pale in comparison to his Twitter account with 87. 7 million followers.
Many reinstated influencers have actively returned to the platform, adding flamboyant anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller and QAnon conspiracy movement supporter Mindy Robinson whose first tweet after being restored included a photo of herself with a gun.
Controversial former kickboxer Andrew Tate, known for his misogynistic comments, was also reinstated. After an impassioned Twitter exchange with environmentalist Greta Thunberg, Tate was recently arrested in Romania on charges of alleged human trafficking and rape.
After thanking Musk for restoring his account, election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell called on his followers to “melt down the electronic voting machines and turn them into criminal bars. “
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who gave the impression of the idea of a Burmese-style coup in the United States, also thanked Musk on Friday — the timing of the anniversary of the Jan. 6 uprising — after restoring his account.
“Under Musk, these super broadcasters are emboldened and readers have less information about the reliability of the resources that feed them Array,” Jack Brewster of media watchdog NewsGuard told AFP.
Musk’s interventions, he added, “have the effect of responding to excess, on both sides of the aisle, and obscuring readers’ path to information. “
Twitter has publicly indicated how many accounts have been reinstated.
Several advocacy groups, in addition to Media Matters and Accountable Tech, pointed to the knowledge gathered through Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer.
Brown compiled an online list of more than 27,000 Twitter IDs restored since Musk’s acquisition last October. Brown told AFP the list is incomplete and the actual number of restored accounts could be higher.
In a mid-December tweet, the company said “the permanent suspension is disproportionate action for violating Twitter’s rules. “
“We recently began reinstating accounts that have been suspended for violating those policies and plan to expand to more accounts per week over the next 30 days. “
Ostensibly to calm the considerations of advertisers and users of the platform, he added that Twitter remains “fully committed to the prevention of destructive content and bad actors. “
But in a check on that commitment, the platform recently saw an explosion of anti-vaccine conspiracies after NFL player Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest at a game.
According to the Center to Counter Digital Hate (CCDH), tweets mentioning “sudden death,” a word that refers to an anti-vaccine movie, circulated on the platform.
Some of those selling conspiracies were previously banned accounts that have been restored, CCHR told AFP.
Musk sought to shake up the loss-making company after its acquisition.
The South African-born billionaire said his Twitter interventions saved the company and announced he would step down as leader once he found “someone nutty enough to take the job. “
“Fixing Twitter requires more than replacing Musk,” Nora Benavidez of the nonpartisan Free Press told AFP.
“This calls for a series of measures to oppose Musk’s harmful policy, reinvest in content moderation and enforcement, and restructure the governance of the platform. “
— AFP
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