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No surprise in what's happened with antisemitism on Twitter since Musk took control [1]

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Date: 2023-03-20  

The new report found that Musk’s takeover of the site ushered in a three-fold increase in “hateful account creation,” i.e., new accounts that were posting at least some antisemitic content right off the bat. But it wasn’t just that—there was a broader increase in antisemitic hate speech. While the new report can’t speak directly to causation, it sure looks like people knew they’d been given permission.

Musk has bragged about a reduction in “hate speech impressions,” meaning the overall number of times tweets containing hate speech were viewed. That’s part of his claimed mission to allow free speech (including hate speech) while stifling its reach. But the new report on antisemitism found “only a very small decrease in the average levels of engagement,” and a researcher at the ISD told the Post that the increased number of antisemitic tweets could account for reduced engagement with any individual one.

“When you have a substantially higher volume of content that is propagating particular narratives, you can't expect all of that content to continue to have the same level of engagement,” he said.

After a few months of watching Musk’s buffoonish leadership of Twitter, it’s hard to say “Elon Musk knows what he’s doing” about anything. As an example, when The Washington Post tried to ask Twitter about this new study showing increased antisemitism on the platform, the company’s response was a poop emoji, part of a new Musk initiative to answer all press inquiries that way. But if he isn’t intentionally and successfully increasing hate speech on Twitter, it’s safe to say he doesn’t care about the outcomes of what he’s doing.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/20/2159306/-No-surprise-in-what-s-happened-with-antisemitism-on-Twitter-since-Musk-took-control

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