Twitter is a popular corporate social media platform. It is premised around short instances of user-created content known as tweets,[note 1] and is distinguished from other social networking sites for its emphasis on content delivered in a microblogging format. Since 2022, Twitter, later renamed to X, was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk. The site began to decline as a whole and see a massive increase in right-wing extremist activity and content.[1]
In 2022, Elon Musk acquired the popular social media platform Twitter, a move which has proven disastrous for the site and its users. Almost immediately after the acquisition of the site, Musk fired most of its dedicated workforce (including moderators) in a matter of days,[2] restricted access to the site's API, harming third-party and open-source clients,[3] made account creation mandatory to view posts,[4] along with other harmful policies. Musk received support from right-wing supporters of freedom of speech when he announced his intention to reduce censorship on the platform. However, it has been shown that the self-induced lack of moderation, in tandem with Musk's insistence that Twitter become a "free-speech platform," resulted in a massive increase in hate speech[5] while resulting in an inconsistent, often right-leaning interpretation of "free speech".[6][7][8] This includes at least one instance where Musk directly ordered the suspension of one left-wing activist's account, apparently on political grounds.[7]
Rebranding to "X"
In late July 2023, Musk abruptly initiated the process of rebranding Twitter to "𝕏,"[note 2] following an ad-hoc, day-long poll to decide upon a new name and logo.[9] The rebranding has caused widespread confusion amongst users[9] and has otherwise proceeded sluggishly. In May 2024, the website's domain was finally changed to "x.com." The change was so sudden that it caused massive technical issues for users, including the inability to even access the site.[10]
Content
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Content on Twitter, like other corporate social media, generates an environment which creates addiction among users. Twitter also creates a stressful setting which splits users into "in-groups" and "out-groups" based on their network of followers.[11]
Censorship
Twitter has openly admitted to installing an in-built bias in its algorithm which amplifies the reach of tweets from right-wing politicians and news organization over progressive and left-wing activists. In many cases, rightist-orientated accounts got over twice the amount of engagement over their center-right counterparts, to say nothing of socialist accounts.[12]
Privacy
Restrictions on privacy extensions
In mid-2024, Twitter began to restrict access to the site for users of "privacy related extensions," especially Firefox's enhanced tracking protection feature, displaying a prompt which erroneously stated that these features are "known to cause issues on x.com," in spite of the fact that no known issues exist with the site while these extensions are in use.[13] These issues appeared immediately after the platform switched to the "x.com" domain, which happened in tandem with massive increases in the amount of personal information collected, including biometric data and even encrypted messages.[14]
↑Officially called "posts" since the site's rebranding.
↑Sometimes called pejoratively "ex-Twitter" by critics such as Richard Stallman. This has the effect of recognizing that Twitter is now longer "Twitter," but nonetheless refusing to comply with Musk's new naming of the platform.
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