Twitter revealed latest rules on its treatment of hateful speech Saturday, part of latest owner Elon Musk’s vow to make the social-media giant a transparent bastion of free expression.
“People will still see slur words in Tweets once they follow an account that uses them,” in accordance with a post from Twitter Safety’s official account. “Nonetheless, we is not going to amplify Tweets containing slurs or hate speech, and we is not going to serve ads adjoining to those Tweets.”
The account explained that blanket removal or suppression of tweets containing hateful comments is not going to be an option.
“Context matters, and never all occurrences of slur words are utilized in a hateful way,” the anonymous official posted. “Slur words could also be utilized in counterspeech, reclaimed phrases, and song lyrics, for instance.”
The account also posted two charts showing that Twitter keeps day by day tabs on using English-language slur words — and claimed the stats reveal “a consistent downward trend in true hateful language impressions” on the platform since Musk accomplished his purchase in October.
Make amends for Twitter’s censorship of The Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story
On Thursday, California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said he was “demanding motion” from Twitter, alleging that hate speech there has increased sharply because the world’s richest man took the reins.
Musk denied the charge — and slapped a “community note” countering Schiff’s allegation on the tweet through which it was made.
Musk’s ongoing “Twitter Files” threads have exposed quite a few instances of alleged viewpoint-based censorship by the hands of the platform’s previous leaders.
