The new owner of the social network Twitter, Elon Musk, said Thursday that he is granting “amnesty” for suspended accounts, which online safety experts predict will lead to an increase in harassment, hate speech and lies.
The billionaire’s announcement was made after promoting a survey on the installation of accounts that “have not broken the law or have not been involved in abusive messages.” The ‘yes’ won with 72%.
“The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk wrote using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
Musk used the same phrase after publishing a similar poll last week before reopening the account of former President Donald Trump, who had been banned from Twitter for encouraging the insurrection that led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Trump claimed that He did not want to return to Twitter, but he did not delete his account.
These online surveys are anything but scientific and can easily be influenced by automated machines.
Since Musk took over Twitter, various groups that monitor the social network for toxic speech have claimed they are on the rise in what is effectively the global public square.
This includes racist abuse related to players from the current Soccer World Cup, who benefit from the apparent passivity of the social network.
The growth in toxic content stems largely from the mess that followed Musk’s decision to fire half of the company’s 7,500 employees and top executives and then proceed with multiple ultimatums, resulting in the firing of hundreds more.
A large number of people tasked with moderating content on the network also left the company.
One of those who left, due to mistrust in Musk’s will to prevent Twitter from slipping into a chaos of uncontrolled speeches, was precisely the person in charge of the trust and security social network, Yoel Roth.
Major advertisers also ended their relationship with Twitter.
On October 28, the day after taking control of the company, Musk sent a message on Twitter assuring that suspended accounts would not be reopened, until Twitter formed a ‘content moderation’ board, with different points of view, to consider the cases in question.
But on Tuesday he reneged on this promise, agreeing to the insistence of “a large coalition of sociopolitical activist groups.”
A day earlier, Twitter reopened the account of far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had been banned in January for violating Twitter’s anti-lying policies regarding the novel coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Musk has been reaching out to far-right personalities on Twitter. Before the last US midterm elections, he urged people with “independent minds” to vote Republican.
Source: TSF
