Under the leadership of new CEO Elon Musk, Twitter is turning into a dark platform filled with racism, bigotry, and “hate speech.” At least, that’s the narrative from countless prominent progressive politicians, establishment media outlets, and left-wing activists.
But it’s not nearly that simple.
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In the telling of folks such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), activist groups such as Black Lives Matter, and even the New York Times, the usage of slurs has supposedly skyrocketed since Musk took over Twitter and made pro-free-speech policy changes. They make this claim based on data from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which sounds neutral but has a clear progressive bias.
This group analyzed the total number of tweets containing slurs and concluded the following:
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- "There have been 3,876 daily tweets mentioning the racist n-word on Twitter, up 202% on the average daily rate in 2022 before his takeover of 1,282.
- There have been 3,964 daily tweets mentioning the homophobic term f****t on Twitter, up 58% on the average daily rate in 2022 before his takeover of 2,506.
- There have been 17,937 daily tweets mentioning the misogynist term c**t on Twitter, up 33% on the average daily rate in 2022 before his takeover of 13,514.
- There have been 5,117 daily tweets mentioning the transphobic term t****y on Twitter, up 62% on the average daily rate in 2022 before his takeover of 3,159."
","theme.0000017c-2d32-d5c4-af7f-7d77b7920000.:core:quote:Quote.hbs._template":null,"theme.0000017c-2d32-d5c4-af7f-7d77b7920000.:core:enhancement:Enhancement.hbs.enhancementAlignment":null,"theme.0000017c-2d32-d5c4-af7f-7d77b7920000.:core:enhancement:Enhancement.hbs._template":null,"_id":"00000185-11aa-d9ef-afaf-71bb4c430000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b92f10002"}”><ul><li><i>”There have been 3,876 daily tweets mentioning the racist n-word on Twitter, up 202% on the average daily rate in 2022 before his takeover of 1,282.</i></li><li><i>There have been 3,964 daily tweets mentioning the homophobic term f****t on Twitter, up 58% on the average daily rate in 2022 before his takeover of 2,506.</i></li><li><i>There have been 17,937 daily tweets mentioning the misogynist term c**t on Twitter, up 33% on the average daily rate in 2022 before his takeover of 13,514.</i></li><li><i>There have been 5,117 daily tweets mentioning the transphobic term t****y on Twitter, up 62% on the average daily rate in 2022 before his takeover of 3,159.”</i></li></ul>But these data don’t actually vindicate their narrative.
For one thing, it simply measures slur usage and uses that as a proxy for “hate speech.” But not all instances in which slurs are used are actually hateful. For example, song lyrics being posted or in-group usage of slurs, such as black people using the N-word, would be misleadingly quantified as “hate speech” by this kind of analysis.
Clearly, that’s not fair.
This approach also uses the raw number of tweets as its focal point when what really matters is the impact they’re having. They’re counting a tweet viewed by 10 people and a tweet viewed by 100,000 people as the same. Twitter itself takes a different approach with its data, and its safety team reports that total “impressions” (views) on tweets containing slurs have actually fallen:
You also have to view the slur usage data in its relevant context to the number of users and tweets being posted. It could be that the total number of slurs being posted is higher because more people overall are using the site, so there are more total tweets. That doesn’t actually indicate Twitter is becoming a more hateful place.
In fact, according to Musk, “hate speech impressions are [less than] 0.1% of what’s seen on Twitter.” So there’s not actually much behind the narrative that Twitter is becoming some haven for hate under Musk’s watch.
But I think this entire debate misses the point. Even if Twitter were seeing an increase in the impact of “hate speech” (whatever that subjective term really means), well, that would unfortunately be the price of having robust and open dialogue.
As a gay man, I am a member of one of the supposedly aggrieved groups who are being victimized by Twitter’s skyrocketing slur count. But I would rather use a platform that errs on the side of open debate and free speech than one that heavily censors and shadow-bans “offensive” opinions and speech. Indeed, I take issue with the notion that gay people, many of whom have overcome real obstacles in their lives, are so fragile that they need to be shielded by benevolent tech censors from occasionally seeing mean words online.
And there’s absolutely no way that “hate speech” on Twitter justifies government intervention, as Schiff suggested. On the contrary, as even Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) admitted, “The Constitution prevents government from regulating speech on Twitter.”
We should see the misleading attempt to paint Elon Musk’s Twitter as a haven for hate speech for what it truly is: a craven justification for a crackdown. Don’t fall for the scaremongering of those who simply can’t stand the idea of a platform that’s beyond their control.
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Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a co-founder of Based-Politics.com, a co-host of the Based Politics podcast, and a Washington Examiner contributor.
