OPINION: If the racial discrimination lawsuits against Tesla are any indication, the social media platform could see an increase in toxic behavior against marginalized communities.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more and The Verge, Musk views himself as a “free speech absolutist” and supports making as much of Twitter as open-source as possible while ditching direct advertising in favor of cryptocurrency-supportive subscription models. Most of his complaints about how the company operates stem from his belief that not-explicitly illegal speech should remain on the platform, saying last year: “If it’s a gray area, let the tweet exist.” Greenlighting that “gray area” could mean doing away with the very few safeguards that protect users from endless hate speech, misinformation and targeted harassment on Twitter.
Ultimately, there is no known concrete plan Musk has shared, even with the current Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal. Asked about the possibility of Trump having his account restored, Agrawal told his staff at a meeting yesterday: “Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go.” If someone who used Twitter to cheer an insurrection that attempted to keep him in power is still in contention to remain on the platform, it’s likely all bets are off for other extremists as well.
All that looming uncertainty can easily precipitate a mass exodus, both from the staff supporting the website to the community using Twitter itself. Hashtags like #RIPTwitter and #DeleteTwitter continue to trend, and alternative social media site Mastodon has already received at least 30,000 new sign-ups, with more potential competitors primed to rise from this moment. Meanwhile, several prominent users are already openly contemplating their departure from the site. Some are quick to scoff at their concerns or mock them as conservative media has, but even Musk addressed it, tweeting yesterday: “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means.”
Some may truly believe Musk will operate in our best interests, in the same way people might have once expected Lucy to allow Charlie Brown to kick the football. Co-founder and former CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey, for one, did not share in the collective dismay following the news. Instead, he shared a link to the Radiohead song “Everything In Its Right Place” and then a thread of tweets describing how “Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness” and that Musk buying the site is “the correct first step” to “Taking it back from Wall Street.”
If that pipe-dream doesn’t come into reality, though, a new era of social media will begin, and whether Twitter will be where people are running to or running from with their “consciousness” remains to be seen.
Whether the bulk of Black Twitter lives on or morphs into existence elsewhere is the most important question. After all, if there’s one tradition that lives on amongst Black people everywhere; it’s the ability to find new places to congregate and new ways to get these jokes off.
Juwan J. Holmes is a Brooklyn-originating journalist and multipotentialite in Washington, D.C. He is currently a contributing writer at Mediaite and Editorial Revolutionary of The Renaissance Project. He can be found on all platforms at @JuwantheCurator, and additionally at @JuwantheWriter on Twitter.
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