Elon Musk said Twitter wouldn't become a 'hellscape.' It's already changing
A surge in racist slurs, a coordinated campaign to spread antisemitic memes, an owner posting a baseless conspiracy theory: welcome to the first few days of Elon Musk's Twitter.
Since the billionaire took control of the influential social media platform on Oct. 27, users, researchers and the company's own employees have been warning that trolls and other malicious actors are testing Twitter's limits, apparently emboldened by a new owner who has vowed to loosen its guardrails in the name of free speech.
The incidents are raising particular alarm given that Americans are in the final days of voting in November's midterm elections, putting government agencies, civil society groups and social media companies on edge over the circulation of false information and hateful rhetoric that is fomenting real-world violence.
Musk himself inflamed those concerns on Sunday when he tweeted a link to unfounded, homophobic allegations about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Replying to a tweet from Hillary Clinton about the attack, Musk wrote: "there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye." He included a link to an article from the Santa Monica Observer, a fringe website with a history of publishing false stories, which makes lurid claims about the attack without evidence.
Musk, who has more than 112 million Twitter followers, deleted the post hours later, but not before it had been retweeted and liked tens of thousands of times.
His tweet heightened fears that Twitter is headed into a new era of toxicity under Musk, who has fired the company's top leadership and dissolved its board, naming himself sole director.
The billionaire Tesla CEO has long used his Twitter account to provoke, joke and troll. His posts take on a new significance now that he owns and controls the platform, however.
Yael Eisenstat, a former Facebook official now at the Anti-Defamation League, tweeted that for Musk to amplify an unfounded rumor "days after claiming to advertisers that he's going to be a responsible leader, all I can say is: I'm not overreacting by expressing my concerns." She was referring to an open letter Musk wrote to advertisers last week pledging that Twitter would not become a "free-for-all hellscape."
"Actions always speak louder than words," Eisenstat wrote.
Musk and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.
Coordinated campaign of racist tweets tests Musk's control
Musk is a self-described "free speech absolutist" who has criticized Twitter's restrictions on hate speech and misleading claims about elections and public health. He has previously said he thinks the platform should allow all legal speech. He's also said he opposes permanent bans and would reinstate banned accounts including that of former President Donald Trump, who was kicked off after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
On Friday Musk clarified that he has made no changes to Twitter's rules yet. He would not make any "major content decisions or account reinstatements" before convening a "content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints," he said.
But many on Twitter and other internet sites greeted news of his ownership as a signal that the old rules were gone.
"Elon Musk has said enough on Twitter even before his takeover to make people believe that he is on the side of saying whatever you want without consequences," said Sara Aniano, disinformation analyst at the Anti-Defamation League.
In the first 24 hours after news broke that Musk had closed his $44 billion purchase, more than 1,200 tweets and retweet spread antisemitic posts and memes, according to the ADL's analysis. In the following days, they've been posted thousands more times.
The ADL said the surge was being driven by a coordinated campaign on internet platforms popular with the far right, including 4chan, an anonymous message board that has generated previous harassment and trolling campaigns, and the messaging app Telegram.
"There were specific guidelines on 4chan on what to do, how to do it, and why they were doing it. And they were doing it to indoctrinate more users into their rallying cry against the Jews," Aniano said.
Users of 4chan also encouraged each other to amplify derogatory slurs, according to the Network Contagion Research Institute. It found use of the n-word increased 500% immediately following Musk's purchase.
According to data from Dataminr, a company that analyzes social media activity, use of several racist and homophobic slurs increased in the hours and days after Musk took control. Tweets and retweets containing the n-word were being posted more than 2,300 times an hour at the peak on Friday, the data showed.
Twitter's head of safety and integrity, Yoel Roth, also warned of coordinated efforts to proliferate hateful posts and said the platform was banning users involved in the trolling campaign.
"Over the last 48 hours, we've seen a small number of accounts post a ton of Tweets that include slurs and other derogatory terms," he tweeted on Saturday evening, noting that just 300 accounts were responsible for more than 50,000 tweets using one slur.
"Bottom line up front: Twitter's policies haven't changed," Roth wrote. "Hateful conduct has no place here. And we're taking steps to put a stop to an organized effort to make people think we have."
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Transcript
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Elon Musk has owned Twitter for less than a week, and already things are changing. Researchers and the company's own staff have identified a coordinated campaign to spread hate on the platform. Musk himself has shared an unfounded conspiracy theory about Nancy Pelosi's husband. And to talk about all of this, we're joined now by NPR's Shannon Bond, who covers online platforms. Hey, Shannon.
SHANNON BOND, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: Hey. OK, so as we said, we are just a few days into the Elon Musk era on Twitter. How are things going?
BOND: Well, Ailsa, this is Elon Musk we're talking about. So, of course, it's controversial. Now, he has never been shy - right? - especially in how he uses Twitter. You know, he has more than 100 million followers there. He's long used his account to provoke, to tease, to troll. And now he's doing these things but from a position of a lot more power. And, you know, that means that worries about what his ownership will augur for this company were really exacerbated this weekend, when he posted this baseless, lurid conspiracy theory about the violent attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul. Now, this came from a fringe website with a long history of posting fake stories. Now, Musk eventually did delete the tweet hours later but not until it had already been, you know, retweeted and liked tens of thousands of times.
CHANG: Wow.
BOND: And I think this matters, right?
CHANG: Yeah.
BOND: 'Cause now he is the one calling all the shots here. He's fired the company's leadership. Today he dissolved its board. It's just him.
CHANG: OK, well, that's just one tweet in particular. But I imagine we are seeing broader changes - right? - across Twitter.
BOND: Yeah. I mean, I think you remember that Musk said before he owned Twitter that he wanted to unleash more free speech on the platform. He has previously said he thinks all legal speech should be permitted there, no matter how offensive or harmful. Now, last week he walked that back a bit. He said it couldn't be a free-for-all hellscape. You know, he doesn't want to scare off advertisers, which are how Twitter makes money. But as soon as news broke on Thursday that he had taken control of Twitter, we saw plenty of people celebrating this idea that he is going to get rid of what they see as censorship on the platform. I spoke with Sara Aniano, a disinformation analyst at the Anti-Defamation League.
SARA ANIANO: Elon Musk has said enough on Twitter even before his take over to make people believe that he is on the side of saying whatever you want without consequences.
CHANG: Yeah. So then what's been the impact of those words? Can we tell?
BOND: Well, Aniano and her colleagues have been tracking what's happening on Twitter, and they found that since Musk took over on Thursday, users have posted thousands of tweets and retweets with anti-Semitic memes. There's also been reporting about a rise in racist slurs. I took a look at Twitter data and you can see a definite increase in the use of several racist and homophobic slurs in just the past few days. The researchers say this is being driven by a coordinated campaign on platforms popular with the far right, at least in some cases here. And, you know, we're seeing people encouraging each other to amplify these hateful posts on Twitter.
CHANG: Well, how has Twitter responded to all of this so far?
BOND: Well, Musk and the company didn't respond to requests for comment. But on Friday Twitter's head of safety tweeted that they are aware of a coordinated campaign to post hate speech and are banning these accounts. In fact, he said just 300 accounts were responsible for more than 50,000 tweets using one slur. Musk himself last week posted to clarify that no changes have been made to Twitter's existing rules. He says he's going to create a content moderation council of people with diverse views and won't make any big decisions before then, including things like bringing back President Donald Trump, who was - or former President Donald Trump, who was banned. I think, Ailsa, though, what the past few days have shown is that even without making any actual changes to Twitter policy, Musk is making his mark. And there's a group of people who are feeling emboldened by his ownership. They are already having an impact.
CHANG: Indeed. That is NPR's Shannon Bond. Thank you, Shannon.
BOND: Thanks, Ailsa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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