The company knows its algorithms are deeply flawed, but because Mr.
Leaks over the past year have shown that Meta, under Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership, has overlooked evidence that hurtful comments on the company’s platforms caused emotional harm to teenagers and increased users’ anxiety and anger. But consider the fate of another public square led by a billionaire with no real check on his power: Facebook. Musk is correct that Twitter has become a de facto public square. Trump said Monday he would not return to Twitter if allowed back on, in favor of his Truth Social network, but, of course, the former president has reneged on many promises.
Trump, who has so adroitly used social media platforms to spread dangerous Covid misinformation, mock his enemies and cast doubt on the integrity of free and fair elections. Twitter is already a toxic place for women who use it, particularly those of color.Īnd the whole world should be concerned that Mr.
Musk will bring his apparent disdain for women to the company he is about to own. Musk was serious when he said he’ll “defeat the spam bots or die trying!”)įemale Twitter users, in particular, ought to worry about whether Mr. Under the notion that more speech is the best antidote to harmful speech, earnest users can probably expect to be shouted down even more frequently by trolls and bots. Musk appears poised to do, won’t make Twitter a better place that will make it far more toxic. He has called someone he disagrees with “pedo guy,” made jokes about women’s anatomy and was forced to delete a union-busting message aimed at his factory workers - all on the platform he’ll soon own. Trump from Twitter for his role in that shameful episode, but it had turned a blind eye to similar behavior for years. 6 attack on the Capitol, Donald Trump used Twitter to whip his followers into a frenzy. Twitter’s usual approach to moderating content has been to slap warning labels on tweets, which are easy to ignore and don’t mitigate the damage done by misinformation.īefore and after the Jan. Politicians and celebrities also seem to enjoy a lighter touch from Twitter’s enforcement of its policies against misinformation, despite the evidence that they are more likely to be believed than regular users. Its rules are enforced unevenly it is filled with racist trolling, harassment and misinformation. Musk leading the company.Ĭertainly, Twitter could benefit from some improvements to its service. No wonder many Twitter employees are aghast at the prospect of Mr. Musk told workers to be “thick skinned” about suffering racist harassment while on the job.
According to a civil suit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing in California Superior Court in Alameda County, Mr. The company has said it is investigating the allegations.Ī California regulator, meanwhile, recently sued the company over reports of racial discrimination against hundreds of employees, including a lack of promotion opportunities and the use of racial slurs by supervisors. Several former SpaceX interns made similar allegations about a lax attitude toward sexual harassment by supervisors and peers, The New York Times reported. The company has said it does not tolerate such behavior. And Tesla has been dogged for years by allegations of racist abuse, discrimination and sexual harassment at its factory in Fremont, Calif., where six women say they suffered catcalling and unwanted touching and advances. Musk thumbed his nose at health officials - whose shelter-in-place orders he called “ fascist” - by forcing workers at Tesla back on the job, in violation of local health regulations. Musk has not been a responsible caretaker for the companies he already oversees: Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and the Boring Company. Musk was setting the tone for his leadership by tweeting that Securities and Exchange Commission officials were “ shameless puppets.” Even as Twitter’s board on Monday was debating his offer of $54.20 per share, which it accepted, Mr. Musk, a billionaire and the world’s richest man.
Musk said that central to his vision for the service is for it to be an “inclusive arena for free speech,” but users should understand what that phrase means: It means free speech for people like Mr. The decision by Twitter’s board of directors on Monday afternoon to accept a takeover bid from Elon Musk means the company thinks the social media company would be best served by the ownership of a man who uses the platform to slime his critics, body-shame people, defy securities laws and relentlessly hawk cryptocurrencies. Twitter has never been a place for rational, nuanced speech.