A new study revealed a spike in hate speech on Twitter since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform last week.
The study, conducted by Montclair State University, tracked how often homophobic, antisemitic and racial hate-driven terms were used immediately following Musk’s takeover.
Researchers for the study found that around 398 hate tweets were made per hour in the 12 hours after the acquisition was finalized – a number that nearly quadrupled from the 84 tweets per hour that were happening in the week leading up to Musk’s takeover. Hate-driven tweets skyrocketed to 4,778 times over that span as compared to the average of 1,000 existing beforehand.
Musk, the billionaire business mogul who is also the CEO of Space X and Tesla, took over Twitter on Oct. 27, ushering in the promise to loosen the social media platform’s content restrictions.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement last week.
Last week, Twitter announced the formation of a “content moderation council” to renovate and refine company policies under Musk.
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“The character of what Twitter will look like with Musk as the head remains speculative, despite his stated intentions,” the Montclair State report reads. “What is not speculative, however, is the extent to which his date of formal acquisition was celebrated by racist and extremist users on the platform.”
Similar research by National Contagion Research Institute determined that the use of the N-word racial slur increased over 500% on Twitter the day after Musk’s takeover.
Also in recent days,celebrities including Shonda Rhimes and Sara Bareilles, have left Twitter.
Story Credit: usatoday.com