Musk sues researchers over their studies on the prevalence of hate speech on X (Twitter)
The analysis of the quality of conversation on the social network formerly known as Twitter and now known as X has reached the courts. Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a British non-profit organisation that since 2018 has been advocating that large platforms should not give access to individuals or groups that base their activity on hate speech or disinformation. The organisation has been publishing studies on the increase of these practices on the platform since its purchase by Musk, who considers them to be motivated, biased and harmful in order to recover the advertising planning lost due to the feeling of brand insecurity.
The legal action represents a further step in the escalation between the two sides. For the owner of the former Twitter, the organisation’s investigations are motivated by the intention to censor points of view with which it does not agree, and the methodologies it uses in its reports are conditioned by this. And CCDH, which has conducted a dozen small-scale studies on the platform since Musk took it over, says it “wants to kill the messenger who highlights toxic content rather than confront the toxic environment it has created”.
CCDH’s investigations conclude that the current X hosts frequent rhetoric against LGBTI movements, rampant misinformation, harassment of women or hate speech in general. But one of the most troubling for Musk is that the platform was able to earn up to $19 million a year just from ads appearing near the posts of 10 relevant accounts that were suspended by previous management for engaging in such practices.
It is unclear what real impact these studies may have had on Twitter’s withdrawal of advertising budgets since it changed hands, but they have been a major contributor to the general conversation about its alleged brand insecurity. Musk’s big challenge in stabilising its accounts after the abrupt downsizing and severe adjustment of other costs is to lift the 50% plunge in advertising revenue he acknowledged in mid-July, and to do that he needs to convince advertisers that his is a suitable environment.
In this context, the company recently asked brand safety companies for improvement proposals and its new CEO is using her contacts to attract video planning. And advertisers now have the option of appearing in popular thread responses from creators with whom X will share the money they invest.
