‘Chief Twit’ Confusing Hate Speech for Free Speech

Different social platforms attract different people. 

People generally get to choose what they do on social media as long as it’s legal and in the terms of service. 

This could either allow for some very nice discussions and posts… 

…or a disaster. 

It might all depend on who owns and controls the company that creates that platform, and the users this owner attracts.

Surely, you Musk understand who and what platform we’re focused on here, without having to go Elon and on about it. 

Every app is owned by someone/thing and the way they run or moderate their app can be a reflection of their users. 

Facebook is generally used by older people, but Meta wants to brand itself to a younger audience and is failing terribly. They are losing their place in the VR market and the metaverse is mentioned nowhere, except for scammers or in discussions of epic failures. The metaverse probably will have a future just not in Zuckerburg’s vision of a materialistic and corporate way. Of course, this is not counting Instagram, which is probably doing OK for itself. It’s just the entire Meta brand that’s in shambles. Although meta can still be seen in some positive lights.

What does this have to do with Twitter? 

Simply put, it is foreshadowing. It is a warning.

Currently Twitter is owned by Elon Musk. The social platform was brought on October 27.

And the reception to Musk becoming the “Chief Twit” has not been positive. 

Even before Musk announced any changes to the site there were plenty of people who had claimed either planning to or already leaving the site for another social platform. 

Twitter B.M. (Before Musk) didn’t have the best reputation. 

Musk entered the conference – as well as the Twitter headquarters – claiming to allow for more free speech after he brought it he said: “Comedy is now legal on Twitter.” After this usage of the n-word on Twitter increased by over 500 percent in 12 hours. Although there was a response claiming that Twitter’s policies haven’t changed and they were going to stop those who think they have. 

Lebron James has tweeted on the matter. James said he doesn’t care who owns Twitter but is concerned with the people wallowing in hate speech and conflating hate speech with free speech. 

Musk replied to James with a tweet from Yoel Roth, head of Trust and Safety at Twitter that “Nearly all of these accounts are inauthentic. We’ve taken action to ban the users involved in this trolling campaign — and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone.” 

Despite all the “inauthentic” accounts being called out and having action taken upon them this still wouldn’t address any actual hate and the idea of bans being overturned. According to Bloomberg News, Twitter is down to a 15-person team after Musk fired countless employees including those who had been responsible for moderation on the site.

There’s been a lot of loss at Twitter since Elon Musk came in with everything, including the kitchen sink, and users have been a part of that. 

There has been an uptick in people deactivating their accounts and suspensions.

According to a recent report from MIT, a bot analyzed 3.1 million Twitter accounts, within that group 877,000 were deactivated and 497,000 were suspended between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1. Most of those suspensions most likely come from accounts trying to violate Twitter’s current rules to push their limits of “Free speech.” 

Speaking of pushing past conventional and accepted forms of civil discourse, there is Christopher Bouzy. That doesn’t mean Bouzy can’t bring insight to this issue.

“I believe if users continue to deactivate their accounts in mass, it will become a significant problem for the platform,” Bouzy said. “If left-leaning and marginalized people leave the platform, Twitter will not differ from Parler or Truth Social.” 

When Twitter was brought less than half of Twitter’s staff was laid off. 

Five employees sued Musk and Twitter for violating California labor laws that would require large employers with more than 100 employees to give a 60-day notice before mass layoffs. Even forcing some to resign to not have to pay those who have been fired. One way is Remote Work ending, and employees are required to spend 40 hours in the office or assumptions will be that they resigned.

Advertisers have also been leaving Twitter, which would account for another drop in revenue. 

There are plenty of good reasons to drop advertising from Twitter:  1) It’s Twitter and 2) It’s now owned by Musk. 

Musk blamed this on activist groups pressuring advertising groups to leave which is not entirely untrue, also saying they’re trying to destroy free speech in America. 

Although most corporations and companies are waiting to see what the future will bring, they are betting it won’t bring a new and improved Twitter. 

General Mills, General Motors, Volkswagen, and United are among a growing list of companies pulling their advertising from Twitter. 

Twitter has been trying to reclaim some of these losses by putting and adding some features behind paywalls. Users can now pay $7.99 a month to receive a verification mark. Although they have to live knowing they got a check mark as a result of Musk laying off nearly half Twitter’s staff.

Although the subscription may be useful to already verified users as their tweets won’t be prioritized and may be pushed down while users who pay will get the chance to be seen by more people. 

On the more extreme side, Musk Has reportedly considered putting all of Twitter behind a paywall, which would probably be the biggest killer if true.

At least, we still have Tumblr.