THE NEW YORK TIMES: Problematic content and formerly barred accounts have increased sharply in the short time since Elon Musk took over, researchers said.
Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter’s owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day.
Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Mr. Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day.
And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr. Musk acquired the site.
These findings — from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms — provide the most comprehensive picture to date of how conversations on Twitter have changed since Mr. Musk completed his $44 billion deal for the company in late October. While the numbers are relatively small, researchers said the increases were atypically high. » | Sheera Frenkel * and Kate Conger ** | Friday, December 2, 2022
* Sheera Frenkel writes about misinformation and social media platforms. ** Kate Conger reports on Twitter and Elon Musk.
