Twitter has become a toxic swamp of hate under Elon Musk. There’s honestly no question about that. And its being highlighted by this story from the BBC which illustrates that perfectly:
Twitter insiders have told the BBC that the company is no longer able to protect users from trolling, state-co-ordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation, following lay-offs and changes under owner Elon Musk.
Exclusive academic data plus testimony from Twitter users backs up their allegations, suggesting hate is thriving under Mr Musk’s leadership, with trolls emboldened, harassment intensifying and a spike in accounts following misogynistic and abusive profiles.
Current and former employees of the company tell BBC Panorama that features intended to protect Twitter users from trolling and harassment are proving difficult to maintain, amid what they describe as a chaotic working environment in which Mr Musk is shadowed by bodyguards at all times. I’ve spoken to dozens, with several going on the record for the first time.
The former head of content design says everyone on her team – which created safety measures such as nudge buttons – has been sacked. She later resigned. Internal research by Twitter suggests those safety measures reduced trolling by 60%. An engineer working for Twitter told me “nobody’s taking care” of this type of work now, likening the platform to a building that seems fine from the outside, but inside is “on fire”.
Twitter has not replied to the BBC’s request for comment.
I encourage you to read this full story as it paints a really ugly picture of what Twitter has become under Elon Musk. If you’re in the UK, I also encourage you to watch this BBC Panorama documentary which also details how bad Twitter is under Elon Musk. It’s truly mind blowing.
Now I was going to post everything that I wrote above as part of this story. But I ended up breaking this story into a separate one to add more details. Specifically this which was brought to light by a reader of the blog this morning:
What you see here is Elon basically giving Twitter users who follow him the permission to harass and threaten anyone he doesn’t like. In this case, this reporter who highlighted how bad Twitter has become under Elon. That by any standard is unacceptable. The fact is that Elon is a bully, and like most bullies he’s a scared one as apparently he walks around with bodyguards who even go into the washroom with him. What simply needs to happen is that someone bigger and tougher, like the FTC for example, needs to take him down. Or his shareholders at Tesla for example need to rise up and oust him as CEO. Or Twitter needs to crash and burn on his watch which would make look like a bigger loser than he already is. Because by the time that Elon is all but encouraging his followers to go after those he doesn’t like, you know that he’s someone that needs to held accountable for his behaviour. And the sooner that happens, the better.
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This entry was posted on March 8, 2023 at 8:30 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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BBC Reports On Twitter Being Unable To Protect Users From Trolling And Other Evils Under Elon Musk…. And The Reporter Behind The Story Gets Death Threats As A Result
Twitter has become a toxic swamp of hate under Elon Musk. There’s honestly no question about that. And its being highlighted by this story from the BBC which illustrates that perfectly:
Twitter insiders have told the BBC that the company is no longer able to protect users from trolling, state-co-ordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation, following lay-offs and changes under owner Elon Musk.
Exclusive academic data plus testimony from Twitter users backs up their allegations, suggesting hate is thriving under Mr Musk’s leadership, with trolls emboldened, harassment intensifying and a spike in accounts following misogynistic and abusive profiles.
Current and former employees of the company tell BBC Panorama that features intended to protect Twitter users from trolling and harassment are proving difficult to maintain, amid what they describe as a chaotic working environment in which Mr Musk is shadowed by bodyguards at all times. I’ve spoken to dozens, with several going on the record for the first time.
The former head of content design says everyone on her team – which created safety measures such as nudge buttons – has been sacked. She later resigned. Internal research by Twitter suggests those safety measures reduced trolling by 60%. An engineer working for Twitter told me “nobody’s taking care” of this type of work now, likening the platform to a building that seems fine from the outside, but inside is “on fire”.
Twitter has not replied to the BBC’s request for comment.
I encourage you to read this full story as it paints a really ugly picture of what Twitter has become under Elon Musk. If you’re in the UK, I also encourage you to watch this BBC Panorama documentary which also details how bad Twitter is under Elon Musk. It’s truly mind blowing.
Now I was going to post everything that I wrote above as part of this story. But I ended up breaking this story into a separate one to add more details. Specifically this which was brought to light by a reader of the blog this morning:
What you see here is Elon basically giving Twitter users who follow him the permission to harass and threaten anyone he doesn’t like. In this case, this reporter who highlighted how bad Twitter has become under Elon. That by any standard is unacceptable. The fact is that Elon is a bully, and like most bullies he’s a scared one as apparently he walks around with bodyguards who even go into the washroom with him. What simply needs to happen is that someone bigger and tougher, like the FTC for example, needs to take him down. Or his shareholders at Tesla for example need to rise up and oust him as CEO. Or Twitter needs to crash and burn on his watch which would make look like a bigger loser than he already is. Because by the time that Elon is all but encouraging his followers to go after those he doesn’t like, you know that he’s someone that needs to held accountable for his behaviour. And the sooner that happens, the better.
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This entry was posted on March 8, 2023 at 8:30 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.