Elon Musk claims hate speech has declined on Twitter since he took over

Elon Musk has claimed that hate speech has declined on Twitter, following his takeover in October.

It had previously been reported that the use of antisemitic, homophobic, racist and transphobic language had spiked after Musk became head of Twitter. 

According to research from The Network Contagion Research Institute, instances of use of the N-word on Twitter increased by nearly 500 per cent. “Evidence suggests that bad actors are trying to test the limits on Twitter. Several posts on 4chan encourage users to amplify derogatory slurs,” the institute wrote.

However, sharing slides from a recent company talk, Musk has claimed that “hate speech impressions are lower” according to internal sources. The accompanying line graph shows that over 10million tweets containing one or more slurs were made the day after Musk took over Twitter, but that number has dropped to just over 2.5million in recent days.

Slides from my Twitter company talk pic.twitter.com/8LLXrwylta

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022

Elsewhere in the presentation, Musk claimed that new user signups are at an “all time high” while taking to Twitter, he said he “sees a path to Twitter exceeding a billion monthly users in 12 to 18 months.”

Despite firing several top executives immediately after taking over Twitter and laying off thousands of employees in the weeks since, Musk has also confirmed that Twitter is hiring.

Last week, Musk also allegedly told the remaining Twitter staff that they must “work long hours at high intensity” or leave the company.

Stephen King is the latest celebrity to criticise Musk’s handling of Twitter, calling him a “visionary” before adding: “He’s been a terrible fit for Twitter. He appears to be making it up as he goes along.”

“Stephen King is one of most creative people on Earth. While I may not agree with everything he says, I do actually want to hear it,” Musk replied, saying any suggestions were “welcome”.

A number of high profile users have quit Twitter recently while the likes of Kathy Burke, Stephen Fry, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, comedy band SpitLip and Jack White have criticised Musk.

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor called Musk’s handling of Twitter an “embarrassment” before he said “we don’t need the arrogance of the billionaire class to feel like they can just come in and solve everything.” Reznor then quit Twitter, with Musk calling him a “crybaby“.

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