Elon, you're confusing hate speech with free speech
Twitter under the reign of Elon Musk
While many news stories are focused on the mass layoffs of half of twitters staff, at Hustle Crew HQ we are more interested in the departure of Twitter advertising clients, and Elon's interpretation of why they have decided to stop buying Twitter ads.
News stories report that on Thursday 3rd November, faced with advertisers pulling twitter ad spend left right and centre, Elon hosted a video conference sharing his vision for fixing Twitter ads in a desperate bid to retain revenue and customer loyalty.
Twitter ad customers want assurances that their ads will not feature near any content that could hurt their customers e.g. sexist or racist tweets. Elon Musk can't make such promises because Twitter - like other social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok- has a problem with moderation and toxicity.
Since Elon acquired Twitter, data shows that the mention of the N-word increased by 500%. Data also shows a sharp increase in anti-semitic tweets.
At Hustle Crew we are no strangers to vitriolic social media exchanges, we are often trolled by those who disagree with the data we share about exclusion and systemic oppression. Thankfully, tools like the Block Party App exist to help us keep using Twitter safe from toxic abuse.
But you have to wonder why Twitter - in all its history - hasn't prioritised building tools like Block Party itself. This is because it overlooked product features that would identify hate speech and toxic language, and it's losing its biggest revenue stream: ad buyers.
Is "free speech" really free speech?
What is most perplexing is Musk’s take on why Twitter is losing its ad buyers: he blames the war on free speech fought by activist groups like the NAACP.
The war on free speech? Do you mean … The war against racism and discrimination?
⁉️ When did the n-word equate to free speech?
⁉️ When did anti-Semitic statements equate to free speech?
⁉️ When did transphobic, Islamaphobic and ableist insults equate to free speech?
Elon Musk is an engineer, an entrepreneur, and an enigma - he should really know better.
Twitter is not losing advertisers because wokeness is going too far, Twitter is losing advertisers because it failed to respond to their needs; the need to guarantee that brand's ads will never feature near content that would hurt any of its staff or customers.
Only when Musk acknowledges this product and moderation failure can the real solutions start to be built… but given he's laid off his entire accessibility, ethics and incisions departments, we won't be holding our breath.
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