X owner Elon Musk significantly rolled back a newly reinstated policy preventing users from “misgendering” other users on the platform, a reversal that follows backlash from conservatives.
X updated its “Abuse and Harassment” policies on Monday to subtly change the recently added section outlining that the platform would reduce the visibility of posts that include misgendering (referring to a transgender person by pronouns with which they do not identify) or “deadnaming” (using a transgender person’s birth name against their will). The policy will now only apply in certain countries if local law requires it.
“Where required by local laws, we will reduce the visibility of posts that purposefully use different pronouns to address someone other than what that person uses for themselves, or that use a previous name that someone no longer goes by as part of their transition,” X’s new policy states. “Given the complexity of determining whether such a violation has occurred, we must always hear from the target to determine if a violation has occurred.”
Musk stated on Saturday that the policy’s reinstatement was due to a “court judgment in Brazil” that is being appealed but should not apply outside of Brazil.
The policy was changed in January but was noticed last week by reporters, causing a number of conservative pundits to complain directly to Musk. Musk reached out to social media personalities like Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik, saying that they were “not going to get suspended” because of the changed policy.
Musk has been critical of those promoting gender ideology in recent years. He promoted What is a Woman, a documentary by the Daily Wire in which talk show host Matt Walsh spoke to several experts about what makes somebody a woman, including advocates of gender transitions and “detransitioners,” people who underwent gender transitions but then reverted to identifying with their biological sex. Musk also declared in June that “cis” and “cisgender,” terms used to identify people who identify with their gender from birth, will be considered slurs. Finally, he called for the imprisonment of professionals who provide gender transitions for children.
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Musk became “anti-woke” after his child identified as transgender and cut off communication, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk.
Musk’s purchase of the social media platform reportedly was motivated in part by the suspension of the satire publication Babylon Bee for posting a tweet referring to Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine, a biological male who identifies as a woman, as a man.
