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- Lebron James reacted to information of a big inflow of hate speech following Elon Musk’s buy of Twitter.
- “I hope he and his people take this very seriously,” James wrote on Twitter Saturday.
- Twitter responded to the experiences of elevated hate speech, saying “hateful conduct” was not welcome on the platform.
Lebron James said the rise of hate speech on Twitter is “scary AF” and urged new Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk to take the difficulty seriously.
“I dont know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns twitter,” James wrote on Twitter Saturday, responding to experiences that use of the n-word on Twitter rose by nearly 500% inside 12 hours of Musk finalizing the acquisition of the platform. “But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech.”
—LeBron James (@KingJames) October 29, 2022
Trolls making an attempt to check the limits of the app’s content material moderation additionally flooded the web site with anti-LGBTQ slurs and sexist comments, in keeping with the Washington Post.
Critics of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter have warned that the new CEO and house owners management might end in the platform changing into a “supercharged engine of radicalization,” citing the improve in such content material.
Musk is a self-described “free-speech absolutist,” and said in a Thursday tweet the social media platform ought to adhere “to the laws of the land.” Hate speech, whereas not clearly outlined below U.S. regulation, is mostly considered protected under the First Amendment proper to free speech.
In response to experiences about the rise of hate speech, Yoel Roth, head of Safety and Integrity at Twitter, wrote Saturday evening that Twitter’s guidelines on hateful conduct have remained the similar since Musk took management of the firm.
According to Roth, 50,000 tweets “repeatedly using a particular slur” originated from the similar 300 accounts, most of which have been described as “inauthentic.”
“Hateful conduct has no place here,” Roth wrote. “And we’re taking steps to put a stop to an organized effort to make people think we have.”
Musk additionally said Friday that he would create a content moderation council with “widely diverse viewpoints.”
“No major content decisions or account restatements will happen before that council convenes,” Musk wrote on Twitter. So far, no different particulars of the council, together with who will make up the council physique, have been introduced.
Representatives for Twitter didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark.
