The tweets antisemites doubled after Elon Musk took office Twitter. Not only this: the new accounts that publish this type of hate messages have tripled since then, it reveals an investigation of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an organization dedicated to investigating disinformation and hate campaigns around the world.
The study compared the three months before and three months after Oct. 27, the day Musk completed his deal to buy Twitter. Prior to this date, there was an average of 6,204 posts per week containing anti-Semitic language. These messages, however, jumped to 12,762 per week after the sale of the company. This represents a growth of 106%. were only evaluated tweets in English.
In addition, they created 3,855 accounts that posted at least one tweet antisemitic between October 27 and November 6. This represents more than triple the rate of creation of such users during the previous equivalent period.
The group of researchers explains that Musk’s management took measures that directly affected the ability of this social network to limit the tweets antisemites. He highlighted, for example, the reinstatement of accounts that had been banned permanently for their hate speech.
The case of Kanye West — who now calls himself Ye — is illustrative. Musk enabled the rapper’s account in November 2022, along with those of other users such as Donald Trump or the influencers misogynist Andrew Tate. Just two weeks later, he had to shut it down again, after West praised Hitler.
Elon Musk’s decisions on Twitter have impacted “conversational health”
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue also mentioned that the dissolution of Twitter’s Security and Trust Council, an independent advisor on online moderation policies, favored the proliferation of tweets antisemites. He explained that the layoff of more than half of the company’s staff since Musk’s arrival also impacts “conversational health.”
The group of researchers used a detection tool that combines more than twenty machine learning models. They trained you to identify tweets that coincided with at least one definitions of antisemitism What does the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance do? Making “false, dehumanized, perverse or stereotyped accusations about Jews” and “requesting, supporting or justifying deaths or harm against Jews” are some interpretations that this organization collects.
The study did find a higher proportion of tweets Anti-Semites Removed By Twitter Since Musk Takeover: it went from 6% to 12%. However, this increase in the removal rate is far from matching the 106% growth in hate messages.
The same institute revealed at the beginning of March that misogynistic accounts on Twitter they also grew 69% since Musk’s arrival. Tens of thousands of new users were created who immediately began to follow well-known profiles that spread abusive content against women. The relaxation of some protection measures has been defended by the magnate as actions in favor of freedom of expression.