Dear friend,
Well, just like that, former President Donald Trump – banned after using the platform to encourage a violent insurrection – is back on Twitter.
Elon Musk, Twitter’s new CEO, decided to bring him back after conducting an unregulated Twitter poll, where his fanboys and bots “voted” to have Trump’s account reinstated.1
The reinstatement happened just days after the former president announced he’s going to run for US President again in 2024. But Trump isn’t the only problematic figure that’s back on Twitter. Misogynists like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate, both banned for hate speech, have returned to the platform; so has The Babylon Bee, a far-right satire website that had been removed for running targeted attacks against trans people.2
With Trump’s reinstatement, the man who planned and encouraged an angry, armed mob to storm the US Capitol has been given free rein on one of the most influential and consequential social media sites in the world. If he chooses to return to the platform, Trump will be free to spew his hateful vitriol whenever he wants. More alarming is the fact that the restoration of Trump’s account is a signal that there is no threshold of political violence that will get someone permanently removed from the platform.
And Musk is making that behavior easier for everyone. When COC’s President Rashad Robinson spoke with him last month, Musk promised to create a content moderation council to help him craft content moderation policies – including the reinstatement of previously banned accounts.3
He even tweeted about it :
This was an empty promise. Despite having not yet convened said council, he invited hateful and dangerous people back to Twitter with open arms and seems determined to make the platform the worst possible version of itself. It’s well past time for companies who say they stand against hate and violence, like Disney and HBO, to stop advertising on the platform. If you haven’t already, we invite you to join us in emailing ALL our corporate targets and urging them NOT to advertise on Twitter.
SEND An email to Procter & Gamble
Until justice is real,
the Tech Accountability Team at COC
References :
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Isabella Zavarise and Jake Epstein, “Here are the suspended Twitter accounts that have been reinstated since Elon Musk took over,” Insider, November 21, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/378305?t=10&akid=55216%2E1942551%2E2SceP5
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Ibid.
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Guardian staff and agencies, “Elon Musk declares Twitter ‘moderation council’ – as some push the platform’s limits,” The Guardian, October 29, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/371616?t=12&akid=55216%2E1942551%2E2SceP5
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. |
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