A recently conducted analysis by the Washington Post is shedding light on some startling findings regarding Twitter.
It claims the popular microblogging website under the leadership of Elon Musk is amplifying hate speech and forcing it into users’ ‘For You’ timeline on the platform.
This might be an unintended side effect arising on the app which is designed to showcase to people more regarding what they want but it’s nevertheless very alarming too.
The post featured a complete breakdown of the app’s algorithm and accounts that showed how extremist content was included and those related to accounts promoting hate.
There was a blend of racist content and explicit speech and even tweets that arose from the likes of Nazis, even if the user was not following such accounts, to begin with. Moreover, a lot of the content arose from those users that were once on the platform, received a suspension, and then invited back on again by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
You can find so many similar tweets of this kind pop up across the app’s For You page as the firm unveiled it to parts of Elon Musk’s own website that he redesigned. As per Twitter’s own words, these are suggested posts that receive power from a list of signals including how popular it is and how people in the network interact with such types of topics and content online.
There was even one case where we saw the account created by The Post. It was seen following so many accounts that had the tag extremely labeled with it. And then posts and quotes from Hitler were a part of it too in the timeline.
It was way back in November that we saw Elon Musk purchase the company for a staggering $44 billion. He announced how he hoped the policy would restore accounts that were banned in the past, citing one of his new rules.
But people were not happy as that meant reinviting trouble and as you can see with these hate-promoting speech posts, they’re arising from those that received a suspension for similar content in the past.
Musk has always been a strong advocate for freedom of speech and he mentioned in the recent past how he hopes Twitter’s new policy would entail this theme. But he did also mention how the platform had zero room and tolerance for hate speech and such negativity and hateful posts would not only be deboosted but would receive zero monetization too.
For now, we’re not seeing any signs of the app sending out recommendations regarding hatred and extremism to regular users of the platform. But nevertheless, we’re seeing this analysis by The Post being a true test that brings to light the platform’s shortcomings.
It’s a trial to see if extremist content is even eligible and being fed to its users on Twitter’s algorithms or not. But still, it just might not be reflecting the real-life experiences of those using the app at this moment in time.
Read next: Elon Musk Amasses The Most Followers On Twitter, Beating Out Barack Obama
It claims the popular microblogging website under the leadership of Elon Musk is amplifying hate speech and forcing it into users’ ‘For You’ timeline on the platform.
This might be an unintended side effect arising on the app which is designed to showcase to people more regarding what they want but it’s nevertheless very alarming too.
The post featured a complete breakdown of the app’s algorithm and accounts that showed how extremist content was included and those related to accounts promoting hate.
There was a blend of racist content and explicit speech and even tweets that arose from the likes of Nazis, even if the user was not following such accounts, to begin with. Moreover, a lot of the content arose from those users that were once on the platform, received a suspension, and then invited back on again by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
You can find so many similar tweets of this kind pop up across the app’s For You page as the firm unveiled it to parts of Elon Musk’s own website that he redesigned. As per Twitter’s own words, these are suggested posts that receive power from a list of signals including how popular it is and how people in the network interact with such types of topics and content online.
There was even one case where we saw the account created by The Post. It was seen following so many accounts that had the tag extremely labeled with it. And then posts and quotes from Hitler were a part of it too in the timeline.
It was way back in November that we saw Elon Musk purchase the company for a staggering $44 billion. He announced how he hoped the policy would restore accounts that were banned in the past, citing one of his new rules.
But people were not happy as that meant reinviting trouble and as you can see with these hate-promoting speech posts, they’re arising from those that received a suspension for similar content in the past.
Musk has always been a strong advocate for freedom of speech and he mentioned in the recent past how he hopes Twitter’s new policy would entail this theme. But he did also mention how the platform had zero room and tolerance for hate speech and such negativity and hateful posts would not only be deboosted but would receive zero monetization too.
For now, we’re not seeing any signs of the app sending out recommendations regarding hatred and extremism to regular users of the platform. But nevertheless, we’re seeing this analysis by The Post being a true test that brings to light the platform’s shortcomings.
It’s a trial to see if extremist content is even eligible and being fed to its users on Twitter’s algorithms or not. But still, it just might not be reflecting the real-life experiences of those using the app at this moment in time.
Read next: Elon Musk Amasses The Most Followers On Twitter, Beating Out Barack Obama
