Twitter under Elon Musk has failed to protect from online violence and abuse, according to a new survey…
According to a new survey conducted by GLAAD, Amnesty International and the Human Rights Campaign, LGBTQ+ organizations have recently reported an increase in hate on Twitter.
About 60 per cent of respondents reported that they had experienced an increase in abusive and hateful speech on Twitter since Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 and took over as CEO. The other 40 per cent reported that they had experienced the same level of abusive and hateful speech as before. None of the survey respondents reported a decrease in abusive and hateful speech.
The survey, which only included accounts with more than 10,000 followers, was intended to capture a “snapshot” of the social media landscape in the months following Musk’s $44 billion takeover. Musk quickly reversed many of Twitter’s content moderation decisions after purchasing the company, including some high-profile cases that set an ominous precedent for the platform’s many LGBTQ+ users.
“Twitter considers itself a ‘common digital town square,’ yet it’s a town square where LGBTQ+ voices are all too often shouted down and silenced by constant hateful speech and harassment,” said Michael Kleinman, senior director of technology and human rights at Amnesty International USA. “It’s disappointing, to say the least, to hear that the problem of hateful and abusive speech on Twitter is only getting worse.”
When respondents tried to report the abuse to Twitter, 88 per cent said that Twitter took no action to mitigate or take down the reported content.
The study also discovered that Twitter’s current anti-hate speech measures are insufficient, as the platform is still used to spread hateful and discriminatory messages towards the LGBTQ+ community.
Amnesty International is calling on Twitter to take stronger measures to combat hate speech on its platform in response to these findings. The organization is urging Twitter to step up its anti-hate speech efforts and take concrete steps to protect marginalized communities, including the LGBTQ+ community, from harmful and abusive speech.
“We urge Twitter to do the right thing and provide a platform free of hate,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
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