Twitter will once more turn into a hotbed of lies, prejudice, and conspiracies

After Twitter Amnesty, the social media site will once more turn into a haven for racism, misinformation, and other forms of intolerance.

Elon Musk’s Twitter has allowed hundreds of previously banned accounts to reappear, including conspiracy theorists encouraging Americans to burn voting machines, anti-Muslim activists who posted pictures of themselves with guns, and retired generals who advocated for a coup.

Campaigners claim that Twitter has become a “cesspool of disinformation, hate-filled conspiracies, and racial insults” in recent weeks as a result of widespread layoffs and the departure of key personnel responsible for user safety.

Musk, a self-described “absolutist” of free speech who paid $44 billion to acquire the powerful platform in October, has raised concerns further by restoring what one expert believes to be over 27,000 accounts that had been suspended for spreading rumours, harassing people, and inciting violence.

According to Jonathan Nagler, co-director of the New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics, “restoring these accounts will make the site a magnet for actors who wish to promote misinformation.”

Additionally, hate speech will probably receive less moderation, which will make the network less welcoming to many users.

Musk, a self-described “absolutist” of free speech who paid $44 billion to acquire the powerful platform in October, has raised concerns further by restoring what one expert believes to be over 27,000 accounts that had been suspended for spreading rumours, harassing people, and inciting violence.

According to Jonathan Nagler, co-director of the New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics, “restoring these accounts will make the site a magnet for actors who wish to promote misinformation.”

Additionally, hate speech will probably receive less moderation, which will make the network less welcoming to many users.

“Superspreaders of misinformation”

Pamela Geller, a flamboyant anti-Muslim activist, and Mindy Robinson, a follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory whose first tweet following restoration included a photo of herself holding a pistol, are just two of the several other reinstated influencers who have actively returned to the site.

Controversial former kickboxer Andrew Tate, known for his sexist outbursts, was also reinstated. Tate was recently detained in Romania for alleged rape and human trafficking following a contentious Twitter argument with activist Greta Thunberg.

Election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell urged his followers to “burn down the electronic voting equipment and turn them into prison bars” after praising Musk for restoring his account.

On Friday, the second anniversary of the January 6 uprising, Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser who previously seemed to support the prospect of a Myanmar-style coup in the United States, praised Musk for restoring his account.

According to Jack Brewster of the media watchdog NewsGuard, “under Musk, disinformation superspreaders are emboldened, and readers have less knowledge about the reliability of the sources feeding them news and information.”

The consequence of Musk’s actions, he continued, is to “cater to the extreme — on both sides of the aisle — and obscure readers’ way to high-quality content.”

How many accounts have been restored is not something Twitter has openly said.

A number of advocacy organisations, including Media Matters and Accountable Tech, used information compiled by Berlin-based software developer Travis Brown.

Since Musk’s takeover in late October, Brown has built an online list of more than 27,000 Twitter IDs that have been restored. According to Brown, the list may not be complete and the actual number of accounts that have been restored may be higher.

“Dangerous choices”

The business claimed that “permanent suspension was an excessive response for infringing Twitter rules” in a message sent out in the middle of December.

“We just began reinstating accounts that had been suspended due to violations of our regulations, and over the next 30 days, we expect to expand to more accounts weekly.”

It said that Twitter was “completely committed to combating harmful content and bad actors,” seemingly in an effort to alleviate the worries of platform users and advertisers.

But after NFL player Damar Hamlin experienced a cardiac collapse during a game, the platform recently saw an eruption of anti-vaccine conspiracies, putting that dedication to the test.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate reports that the number of tweets mentioning “dead abruptly,” a word that refers to a movie that is anti-vaccine, increased on the platform (CCDH).

According to CCDH, some of the people selling the conspiratorial term had previously banned accounts that had been reinstated.

After buying the losing firm, Musk set out to transform it.

The entrepreneur, who was born in South Africa, said that his actions at Twitter had saved the firm and declared that he would resign as CEO once he found “someone crazy enough to take the position.”

It takes more than just replacing Musk to fix Twitter, according to Nora Benavidez of the apolitical organisation Free Press, who spoke to AFP.

It takes a number of steps to undo the risky policy choices Musk has taken, reinvest in content moderation and enforcement, and overhaul the platform’s governance.

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