Free expression is a human right – we believe that everyone has a voice, and the right to use it. Twitter’s mission is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information, and to express their opinions and beliefs without barriers. You also may not use your username, display name, or profile bio to engage in abusive behavior, such as targeted harassment or expressing hate towards a person, group, or protected category. Hateful imagery and display names: You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header.
We also do not allow accounts whose primary purpose is inciting harm towards others on the basis of these categories. The people who do are usually those for whom no slurs exist.Hateful conduct: You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. No one wants to go outside without headphones when they know someone is going to randomly yell slurs at them.
This could directly impact neighborhoods on Twitter that are already the most vulnerable. Gab, Parler, Truth Social, and other social media sites with broad definitions of free speech are already “awash with extremism, racism, misogyny, violence, and terrorism,” Joe Mulhall, director of research at Hope Not Hate, told WIRED this week. Musk doesn’t even have the reins yet, and far-right trolls and previously banned neo-Nazis are already attempting to set up new accounts. He’s named himself the leader of Twitter, and while he may hope even his “worst critics” remain on the platform “ because that’s what free speech means,” he sounds oblivious to the fact that death threats in your mentions are likely far more scary when you’re not the world’s richest man. (Not that having one person at the helm of the town square is ideal, either.) Mayors are elected Musk was not. In Musk’s view, opening up Twitter will encourage dialog amongst people with diverse views, and will fuel a “ functioning democracy.” But if you pretend it’s a city, then Musk just essentially bought the mayorship. Most of these aren't the kind of world-changing conversations Musk seems to want to have, but they’re just as vital. People have neighborhoods they stick to sometimes they go out and talk with friends, sometimes they watch from their windows, sometimes they talk up strangers in a park. But for the rest of Twitter-some 229 million daily users-it’s more like a metropolis. Yes, for people like Musk it’s a place to have debates they think are important for humanity people with millions of followers are often the people who think what they’re saying is most important. This metaphor seems slightly off, though.
In Musk’s mind, “Twitter serves as the de facto public town square,” and as such, it should be a place where people are able to speak their minds. “Elon Musk once tweeted ‘pronouns suck.’ What could go wrong when he owns Twitter?” asked Them, adding that his ownership could be a “nightmare” for LGBTQ+ people. “With Elon Musk in charge, it’s the beginning of the end for #BlackTwitter,” wrote the Los Angeles Times. In the last week, since Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter, users have been cautiously eyeing the deal, wondering if Musk’s stewardship of the platform could erode those communities. Gay Twitter, Black Twitter, Trans Twitter, Feminist Twitter, Asian-American Twitter-they’re all there, if you know where to look.
Several years ago, in response to a piece about the internet’s love of the movie Carol, someone posted a tweet claiming “the year is 2017 and WIRED has just discovered Gay Twitter.” The criticism is fair we were probably a bit late to the party, but it was also an indication that, on Twitter, the subgroups are practically endless.
The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter.