The quality of conversations on Twitter has degraded lately
A lot is happening over at Twitter lately. The social network hasn’t been the same since Musk’s takeover. While Twitter usage is reportedly at an all-time high, the company is losing money rapidly. The new owner has already fired thousands of employees to save costs and is looking for more revenue streams. He has increased the price of Twitter Blue from $5 per month to $8 per month, throwing in the verification checkmark as a perk to lure users. Amid all this, the quality of conversations on the platform has degraded. According to DigitalPlanet, Twitter has allowed extremists and toxic posts to flourish since Musk’s takeover (via). Researchers analyzed millions of posts about “trending political narratives” on Twitter between July and October. The posts covered topics such as “civil war, election fraud, citizen policing of voting, and allegations of pedophilia and grooming”. Much of that conversation focused on “refuting misinformation, deriding the toxic speech, and mocking those who spread it.” But things have changed for the worse under the leadership of Elon Musk. The quality of the conversation has decayed, the report states. Extremists and purveyors of hateful content are “testing the boundaries of what Twitter might allow,” leading to an increase in misinformation, hate speech, and toxic posts on the platform. The social network is reportedly putting in less effort to combat such activities, certainly lesser than what it did as a public company a few weeks back. Regarding his idea of Twitter, Musk had said that the platform cannot be a “free-for-all hellscape” even though he promotes free speech. Unfortunately, it does appear to be a hellscape if this research report is anything to go by. “While it is still quite early, there are clear signs that extremist accounts are becoming more active post-Musk,” researchers said. Hopefully, Musk will be able to weather the storm and Twitter will be a healthier public platform soon.
