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Empowering Hate Speech seems to be Elon's Real Plan [1]

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Date: 2022-12-17

So many suspended accounts, so much more "free speech" to unleash ...

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It was only a matter of time before the excesses of the Billionaire-brat caught up with him.

Isn’t ironic that those who are always the self-proclaimed “smartest guys in the room” — usually aren’t. Because the fallout from their impulsive actions, will almost always betray them.

Who could not have predicted the fallout from this dumper-fire, formerly known as Twitter …

Why is Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover increasing hate speech? by Rashawn Ray and Joy Anyanwu, www.brookings.edu... November 23, 2022 The bird is freed,” tweeted Elon Musk on October 27, 2022, as a celebratory endnote to his acquisition of Twitter. However, this begs the question, free for which type of birds? By show of his previous political statements, current missteps, and future plans for the platform, this so-called freedom may simply galvanize extremists and further expose racial and religious minorities to hate speech and trauma. Twitter is now a major platform for proponents of hate speech. Twitter saw a nearly 500% increase in use of the N-word in the 12-hour window immediately following the shift of ownership to Musk. Within the following week, tweets including the word “Jew” had increased fivefold since before the ownership transfer. Tweets with the most engagement were overly antisemitic. Likewise, there has also been an uptick in misogynistic and transphobic language. This surge in hateful language has been accredited to various trolling campaigns on sites like 4chan and the pro-Trump forum “The Donald.” In response to these reports, Yoel Roth (former Head of Safety and Integrity at Twitter) posted a thread detailing that the majority of this derogatory language is coming from about 300 “inauthentic” accounts . Even if this hateful conduct is coming from a small number of troll accounts, this phenomenon speaks to how fringe, alt-right networks not only feel empowered by Musk’s takeover, but protected as well. [...] Hate speech is bad, and should not be tolerated, much less encouraged, in a civilized society. Everyone knows that — everyone with any common sense, that it. It’s good to see that Twitter has a team to tamp down those Twitter Trolls fomenting Hate. … what’s that, you say, no need for such niceties? Be gone Council of Commonsense and Decency — the new King-twit has spoken ... Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council by Cat Zakrzewski , Joseph Menn and Naomi Nix , Washington Post — 12/12/2022 abruptly dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the latest sign that Elon Musk is Twitter on Monday night, the latest sign that Elon Musk is unraveling years of work and institutions created to make the social network safer and more civil. Members of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council received an email with the subject line, “Thank You,” that informed them the council was no longer “the best structure” to bring “external insights into our product and policy development work.” The email dissolution arrived less than an hour before members of the council were expecting to meet with Twitter executives via Zoom to discuss recent developments, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans. Dozens of civil rights leaders, academics and advocates from around the world had volunteered their time for years to help improve safety on the platform. [...] “By disbanding it, we got fired instead of quit,” said [Larry Magid, chief executive of ConnectSafely, a Silicon Valley nonprofit]. “ Elon doesn’t want criticism, and he really doesn’t want the kind of advice he would very likely get from a safety advisory council, which would likely tell him to rehire some of the staff he got rid of, and reinstate some of the rules he got rid of, and turn the company in another direction from where he is turning it.” — Well unleashing the voices of Hate, isn’t just soul-crushing hurtful — it can be life-altering dangerous. But Elon has a plan, any collateral consequences be damned ...

'A Neo-Nazi Terrorized My Family. Now Elon Musk Has Him Back on Twitter'

Tanya Gersh, Newsweek, 12/14/22

When Elon Musk upended Twitter's moderation policies, allowing neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin to become active on the platform on December 2, years after his Daily Stormer account was banned, the pain and fear I felt were visceral. It immediately reignited the trauma my family and I have been working so hard to overcome since Anglin began a campaign of terror against us in 2017 simply because we were Jewish and dared to question another well-known white nationalist from my small hometown, Richard Spencer. Five years ago, my entire life as I knew it was nearly destroyed by Anglin after he targeted me and my family in an antisemitic terror campaign. Anglin published on his neo-Nazi website—the Daily Stormer—my private contact information [doxxing], home address, and photos of me and my 12-year-old son One of the photos had us on a Nazi death camp implying that we too should die like millions of others did during the Holocaust. He encouraged his many thousands of followers to make my life a living hell, and a living hell is exactly what my life became. At his command, his followers sent thousands of vile and threatening antisemitic direct messages, internet posts, and phone calls to my home, office, community, and to every corner of my life. [...]

— Remember that former director of the Twitter Safety Council who had identify the 300 Troll Accounts spewing Hate? Well, it seems that firing him was not enough — Musk perceived the rhetorical threat he represented — and Musk decided to take “active measures” against the threat … himself: Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council

Meanwhile, a former top Twitter official fled his home amid attacks following Musk tweets

Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, and his family were forced from their home after Elon Musk’s tweets misrepresented Roth’s academic writing about sexual activity and children. The online mob also sent threats to people Roth had replied to on Twitter, forcing some of Roth’s family and friends to delete their Twitter accounts, according to a person familiar with Roth’s situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concerns about Roth’s safety. [...] Musk tweets about Roth recalled the QAnon conspiracy movement, which claims incorrectly that Democratic Party leaders direct a child sex abuse network. “Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis,” Musk tweeted Saturday, attaching a screenshot of Roth’s dissertation. [...]

“Looks like” Elon Musk is, not only empowering those voices of Hate speech based on distortions and conspiracies, Musk himself is actively getting in on the act . The man-child with more money than sense, is intentional doxxing those with the audacity to speak up for the need for a well-moderated forum, on the site formerly known as Twitter.

So much for “free speech” — if it is based on facts, and the respect and dignity of others.

In Musk-world, if the speech isn’t actively on the attack — it apparently ain’t worth the time of day, because Elon has a plan:

Musk’s stated plan with all this [the Twitter Files] — at least the one that doesn’t change from week to week — is to purge Twitter of its censorious past, and fully embrace the idea of a digital town square governed by the normative principles of free speech. “This is a battle for the future of civilization,” Musk tweeted, in late November, after a promo of the Twitter Files. “If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead.” www.newyorker.com — Dec 6, 2022

The tyranny of the Elon-banishment:

Thou has spoken ill of the Twitter-king. Be smited, ye rogues and scoundrels.

Elon has a Plan alright — and he’s just getting started … hope “it” doesn’t catch on, as the New Normal.

— —

There are other alternatives to the Elon-esque Townsquare ...

Americans — civil, mutual respecting Americans — would be wise to check them out.

Twitter is just a web-site, on its downhill slide … Other web-sites can, and will do better …

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/17/2142402/-Empowering-Hate-Speech-seems-to-be-Elon-s-Real-Plan

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