Musk threatens independent CCDH researchers with legal action
Lawyers representing the troubled social media platform says researchers documenting a rise in hate speech on the platform are driving users away
X Corp, formerly known as Twitter, has threatened to sue a group of independent researchers whose research has documented an increase in hate speech of all kinds on the site since its acquisition by Elon Musk last year.
An attorney representing the social media site wrote to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) on July 20 threatening legal action over the nonprofit's research into hate speech and content moderation. The letter alleged that CCDH's research publications seem intended "to harm Twitter's business by driving advertisers away from the platform with incendiary claims."
Musk is a self-professed free speech absolutist and he has welcomed back users onto the newly renamed platform who had been banned for posts advocating white supremacy, anti-vaccine propaganda and denial of the 2020 US election result.
The CCDH is a not-for-profit organisation with offices in the UK as well as the US. It regularly publishes reports such as this one on hate speech, extremism or harmful behaviour on multiple social media platforms like X, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.
The organisation has published several reports critical of Musk's leadership, detailing an increase in anti-LGBTQ hate speech as well as climate misinformation since his purchase. The letter from X's attorney cited this report published in June that found the platform failed to remove neo-Nazi and anti-LGBTQ content from Twitter blue subscribers which violated the platform's rules. Indeed, the paid for verification meant that the reach of this type of hate speech was algorithmically increased.
The letter questions the expertise of CCDH researchers and accuses the centre of trying to harm X's reputation. The letter also suggested, that the centre received funds from some of X's competitors, "as well as government entities and their affiliates." No details or accompanying evidence to support this suggestion appears to be provided. CCDG research is critical of plenty of X's social media competitors.
Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of CCDH, told the Associated Press on Monday that his group has never received a similar response from any tech company, despite a history of studying the relationship between social media, hate speech and extremism. He said that typically, the targets of the centre's criticism have responded by defending their work or promising to address any problems that have been identified.
"This is an unprecedented escalation by a social media company against independent researchers. Musk has just declared open war," said Ahmed. "If Musk succeeds in silencing us other researchers will be next in line."
To this end, the CCDH published both the original letter and its own legal response in a blog post yesterday, citing the necessity of transparency when discussing the interaction of free speech, hate and misinformation.
"CCDH believes the public has a right to know about the spread of hate and misinformation on the social media platforms that shape our lives, culture, and politics. In line with our mission to protect online civil liberties and ensure accountability, we publish Twitter's letter and our response. Open and transparent public discussion of these issues is essential."
Computing says:
It's worth noting that the CCDH is not the only organisation researching the role of social media platforms on the dissemination of hate, misinformation and extremism. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue has also catalogued the increase in antisemitic content on Twitter since the period just before Musk took over. Other organisations such as the Anti-Defamation League, Media Matters and the Stanford Internet Observatory have also published research into hate driven content.
Earlier this year Twitter began charging for access to its API which means that researchers can no longer use it free of charge to sift through millions of tweets.
For someone who claims to be a free speech absolutist, Musk has shown a distinct lack of tolerance for speech critical of him and the direction in which he has taken X - which increasingly seems to mark a spot where fewer users and advertisers wish to be.