The legal staff of X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, must have been busy in recent months. New owner Elon Musk threatened to sue former employees for leaking classified information and sued a user who posted his flights. He sued Threads, accusing Zuckerberg’s new social network of being too similar to Twitter, and is now suing a group of independent researchers who have documented an increase in racist and sexist language on the platform.
Attorney X wrote to the Digital Hate Countermeasures Center ten days ago, threatening to sue: “CCDH intends to hurt Twitter’s business by driving advertisers off the platform with inflammatory statements,” Alex Spiro, a superstar lawyer who works with VIPs like Twitter, said in an email. Megan Thee Stallion and Jay-Z.
The Digital Hate Center is a non-profit organization with offices in the US and UK that regularly posts about hate speech, extremism or harmful behavior on social media such as X, TikTok or Facebook. In several reports, the Center has been critical of Musk’s leadership, describing an increase in LGBTQ hate speech and climate disinformation since his purchase.
Specifically, Spiro cites a June report that the platform failed to remove neo-Nazi and anti-LGBT content from verified users who violated Twitter rules. In the letter, the lawyer questions the competence of the researchers and accuses the Center of trying to damage X’s reputation. More details: He also suggests that CCDH received funds from some of X’s competitors, although other reports from the Center that are critical of him are publicly available. TikTok, Facebook and other major platforms.
Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, noted that his group has never received a similar response from any tech company, despite studying the relationship between social media, hate speech and extremism. On the contrary, the platforms mentioned in various reports usually defended their work or promised to solve the problems identified.
Ahmed said he fears that X’s reaction to the center’s work could have a deterrent effect if it encourages other researchers not to study the platform. He added that he also worries that other industries might take notice of the strategy. “This is an unprecedented social media escalation against independent researchers. Musk just declared open war,” Ahmed told The Associated Press. “If he can silence us, other researchers will be next in line.
Meanwhile, amid disruptions, a growing number of fake news, fake users impersonating the real thing because $8 is enough to get a blue check, X today is very different from the freedom of expression platform Musk promised when he bought Twitter for $44 billion. dollars. October 27 last year. Indeed, according to another study, the network of the American non-profit organization Glaad among all social networks is the least protective of the rights and image of LGBTQ+: not surprising, given that Musk himself does not seem to be so interested in the topic.
“I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter because that’s what freedom of speech is,” the then-CEO tweeted last year. He welcomed white supremacists and anti-U.S. elections on his social media, reinstated Donald Trump’s account, and re-admitted Kanye West. He repeatedly declared himself an absolutist of free speech. If only it did not grow into criticism of him and his companies.