1y ago

Twitter Sues Hate-Speech Research Group Over Claims That Hateful, Racist Content Has Proliferated Under Musk’s Ownership

variety.com Twitter/X Sues Hate-Speech Research Group Over Claims That Hateful, Racist Content Has Proliferated Under Elon Musk’s Ownership

UPDATED: X, the Elon Musk-owned social service formerly known as Twitter, said it filed a legal claim against the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “Despite our continued progress, the Cent…

Twitter filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “Despite our continued progress, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and its backers have been actively working to assert false and misleading claims encouraging advertisers to pause investment on the platform. X is a free public service funded largely by advertisers. Through the CCDH’s scare campaign and its ongoing pressure on brands to prevent the public’s access to free expression, the CCDH is actively working to prevent public dialogue,” the company said in a blog post Monday.

“Musk and his legal team, led by attorney Alex Spiro at Quinn Emanuel, have engaged in an aggressive campaign to intimidate, bully, and silence CCDH,” the organization said in a statement released Monday. “While Elon Musk proclaims to be a ‘free speech absolutist,’ his actions against CCDH show the lengths he will go to silence those who seek to hold him to account.”

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It blows my mind how CEO's can make such obviously shortsighted and stupid decisions.
Elon is elonning Twitter's reputation faster and faster every day.
- I mean the alternative possibility is that people dislike Elon and are trying to inflate small things into big ones.
  Not that I don't actually suspect hate speech hasn't increased on his platform since he fired most of the staff anyway, but a company does have the right to defend itself legally against accusations and decide it in court.
  It's like if you made a company and I had a claim that you were eating babies during lunch. Your defense against me would be a lawsuit in court.
  
  Ok, but if you fire the team responsible for making sure no babies are consumed, and your company cafeteria menu suddenly has a section called All Baby All Day, the only people who will defend you are probably also eating babies at home.
  
  The situation of one of the largest social media platforms in the world, and the proliferation of hate speech in it, are not small things. That place has had real political impact.
  
  Yeah, he has the right, sure. Nobody says he doesn't, nobody says he shouldn't. But right now it's in the media. It's stupid. Now there's more attention drawn to this, and if they lose (though Elon's musk will likely try to bleed them dry rather than try to straight up win) it's now not just a claim, it's a claim backed up by law. He has very little to gain with this stunt.
  
  Just because you have a right to do something, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Something that Elon clearly doesn't understand.

65 comments