Hate would take over Twitter. At least, it would prosper freely in the social network taken over by Elon Musk in October 2022. According to an investigation by the British media BBC, university data and testimonials from a dozen employees, current or recently left the company, demonstrate this moderation. it is much less effective since the arrival of the billionaire.
The English University of Sheffield has managed to identify the harassment received by a BBC journalist. A specialist in spreading and spreading false information and conspiracy theories on social media, hate messages on Twitter are nothing new to Marianna Spring. However, she has noticed an increase in recent months. University researchers were able to confirm her impression: the harassment suffered by the journalist has tripled since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the network tripled.
a burning building
The BBC media traveled to San Francisco to learn the background. The employees confirm that the arrival of the businessman has reduced the operation of the platform. Elon Musk’s first decision was to drastically reduce the workforce. In all, two out of three employees were laid off. Moderation was one of the first services targeted by forced departures.
According to him, many functions are “broken” and “nobody takes care of it.” He likens the company to a building where all the rooms are on fire, but the exterior facades still look intact.
Sam also points to a very high level of helplessness. Elon Musk does not show confidence in his new equipment. The new boss would even ask engineers from Tesla (one of his other companies) to evaluate the app’s computer codes. Then, based on the feedback, he chooses the people he will fire.
Lisa Jennings Young is one of the employees fired by Elon Musk. In charge of content design, she specially created tools to protect users. With her equipment, harassment and hate speech have been limited as well as possible.
Inactive prevention tools
Before being fired, service members had designed a security mode, to automatically lock accounts or alert them in the event of a potentially harmful response. This was used to alert the author of a post or reply that their tweet contained terms that could offend, hurt or insult.
Since his dismissal at the end of November, no one has returned to his duties. He does not know if his alert project was continued. Based on tests she was able to run from a private account, Lisa Jennings Young was surprised to see no alerts when she tried to post potentially offensive tweets.
“Trauma”
The vacancies left by massive job cuts have a very concrete impact on the platform. Racist, anti-Semitic or misogynistic publications are multiplying. Ellie Winslow pays the price. Victim of a rape during her university career, she began to declare on the social network. Hate speech marks each of her speeches. And this, despite the condemnation of her attacker.
According to the British think tank Institute for Strategic Dialogue, tens of thousands of Twitter accounts have been created since Elon Musk’s arrival at the head of the network. This influx was immediately followed by a 69% increase in abusive or misogynistic accounts. For researchers, this phenomenon is expanding. They point to the takeover of Twitter, which has created a “permissive environment” for these users.
Source: BFM TV
