[csusbpeace] Neo-Nazis, Antisemites, and the N-Word: Twitter Just Hours Under Elon Musk
- From: "raccoon" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ("bigraccoon1")
- To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2022 12:13:36 -0700
https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgpkqb/elon-musk-twitter-neo-nazis?utm_source=email&utm_medium=editorial&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=221028
Neo-Nazis, Antisemites, and the N-Word: Twitter Just Hours Under Elon Musk
Minutes after Elon Musk became Twitter’s official owner, the platform was
filled with vile hate speech
<https://twitter.com/cbouzy/status/1585912048546091008> as users celebrated.
The very first hours of Musk’s stewardship of the social media platform have
been dominated by his supporters relishing their ability to use profane slurs
and racial epithets, and a torrent of racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic,
homophobic, and transphobic hate speech continued Friday morning.
“Since Elon Musk made Twitter free speech haven, I'll say this: FUCK
N*****S,” one account tweeted. “Fuck n*****s and fuck the jews,” another
tweeted alongside a picture of Pepe the Frog, a far-right symbol.
Other Twitter users documented other examples of hate speech proliferating on
the site Thursday evening and into Friday morning.
Musk’s first act as owner of the company was to fire its top executives,
including CEO Parag Agrawal and Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s longtime head of
legal, police, trust and safety. Many read this as a sign that Musk will be
taking a much more laissez-faire approach to the type of content allowed on
the platform.
Many of the earlier tweets have been deleted and some of the accounts
suspended, indicating that Twitter’s moderation policies remain in place.
However, those systems are being harshly tested on Friday morning as a search
of the latest tweets for a variety of hateful phrases shows a seemingly
unending stream of toxic content.
Musk on Thursday tried to reassure advertisers that Twitter would be “warm
and welcoming to all,” adding that it would not descend into a “free-for-all
hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.”
One account that’s expected to be reactivated under Musk’s leadership is that
of former President Donald Trump. But on Friday morning, Trump said he was
happy posting on his own network, Truth Social, which he claimed had “become
somewhat of a phenomena.”
Comparing it to Twitter and other social networks, Trump said Truth Social
“also looks and works better to my eye. I am very happy that Twitter is now
in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs
that truly hate our country. Twitter must now work hard to rid itself of all
of the bots and fake accounts that have hurt it so badly. It will be much
smaller, but better. I LOVE TRUTH!”
Users celebrating Musk’s Twitter takeover have also felt emboldened to
directly target others. A number of users, predominantly women, have said
that the level of abuse they’re
<https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1585846350620532736>receiving has shot
up <https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1585840327817981953> in the hours
since Musk’s takeover.
Others appear to see Musk’s takeover as the final straw and have claimed
they’ll be deleting their Twitter accounts, something those on the far-right
are also celebrating.
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