Last month, after conducting a Twitter poll, Elon Musk reactivated Donald Trump’s account. Since then, the former American president has let himself be desired; he hasn’t started tweeting again.
So much the better. Because Donald Trump, on Twitter, was the equivalent of the plague. But the problem is that we are now struggling with cholera.
It is to be mistaken: what Elon Musk relays to his approximately 121 million subscribers now gives the impression that the former Republican president has taken over his account.
Donald Trump, get out of this body!
Insults, provocative tirades, polarizing declarations, nonsense of all kinds… With a certain dose of humor and a real talent for entertainment, which often contributes to masking the toxic character of the work as a whole.
Every day brings its share of delirious rantings. Here, recently, Elon Musk said he wanted Doctor Anthony Fauci to be prosecuted.
The same day, he had published a photo montage where we saw the one who was the main adviser to the White House on COVID-19 saying to a monarch decked out in the face of Joe Biden: “Just another confinement, my king… »
But Elon Musk isn’t just some narcissistic — and crass — billionaire who thinks he’s the navel of the world.
He is also now the owner of Twitter.
And he manages his new toy the same way he uses his own account. Like an irresponsible driver running red lights and speeding up when he sees a pedestrian crossing.
After its acquisition of Twitter, about half of the employees were fired or walked out. Among other things, Elon Musk has axed the teams responsible for moderating content.
That decision alone was troubling. But there is worse. It was taken while, at the same time, Elon Musk announced a “general amnesty for suspended accounts”.
It’s not just Donald Trump’s account that has been reactivated. Among the most famous users, rapper Kanye West has made a comeback that is as remarkable as it is pitiful. Giving free rein to his anti-Semitism on the social network, he ended up being ejected once again, at the beginning of December.
Around the same time, the New York Times consulted researchers, who reported an “unprecedented” increase in hate speech on Twitter since Elon Musk became its owner.
They found a 61% increase in anti-Semitic posts in two weeks and recorded about 3,876 racial slurs against black people every day on the network, up from 1,282 daily before Elon Musk bought Twitter.
Messages of insults against homosexuals also jumped.
Among the other excesses cited: 450 accounts associated with the armed group Islamic State, a notorious terrorist organization, were created in 12 days. A 69% increase.
The mayhem doesn’t stop there.
We spoke in our Tuesday edition of a “wave of piracy”. It was reported in particular that Guy A. Lepage had his identity usurped by a fraudster (who was trying to sell “autographed” computers with the host’s account) and that he had not arrived, nearly 72 hours later to get help from Twitter.
His verdict is final. “It really is a piece of shitty company. »
It’s a safe bet that Eli Lilly officials share this opinion. A user managed to certify a profile created in the name of this pharmaceutical group last month and then declared that insulin was now free! Shareholders did not like…
What to do with a social network that goes off the rails and causes such chaos? Legislate!
“The bird will fly according to our rules”, has already promised the European Commissioner for Digital, Thierry Breton, referring to the symbol of Twitter.
Knowing that elected officials in Canada (in the wake of a bill that died on the order paper in 2021) are currently looking into online hate speech, it would be reassuring to hear them quickly promise us the same thing.