Translation Dutch broadcasting NOS / NieuwsUur
Should former President Donald Trump’s account be restored? Yes, said 52 per cent of Twitter users who responded to the question. And so it happened.
The poll last month was one of many notable actions by newly-appointed Twitter boss Elon Musk. All of which underscored his view that ultimately Twitter’s users are what decide the content on the messaging platform, not the company itself.
On the ‘old’ Twitter, there were too many rules and therefore too little freedom of expression, Musk felt. He therefore removed important restrictions, but this led to new problems.
“Conservative America felt that their views got too little airtime.” Joris van Hoboken, professor of information law
One of the reasons the world’s richest man took an interest in Twitter at all was the potential he saw in the social medium to be “a bastion for free speech”. Under the old administration, Twitter was never going to be that, was his belief.
According to Musk, the blocking of Trump’s account was an example that Twitter was imposing too many restrictions on its users. The former president had been banned for not distancing himself enough from violent Capitol stormers in his tweets. Letting Trump tweet any longer was seen as “risking further incitement to violence”.
Instead, Musk wants users who post messages that fall into “a grey area” to be allowed to stay. Anything goes on Twitter, he believes, as long as it falls within the boundaries of the law.
Democratic influence?
The billionaire accuses the old Twitter board not only of being too strict, but also biased. By making public internal documents, which he calls the ‘Twitter Files’, he is now trying to prove that Trump’s banning was done under pressure from Democrats, Trump’s opponents.
Through journalists, Musk is bringing out the documents:
Twitter was also allegedly influenced by Democrats at another time. Ahead of the 2020 elections, the New York Post published a story based on emails and other documents taken from the laptop of Joe Biden’s son Hunter. The article was about Hunter’s past drug problems and alleged abuse of power by his father.
“The major social media platforms took action to slow down the spread of the story,” says Michael Klos, associate professor of law. He researches social media and freedom of speech. “Twitter even completely restricted the New York Post article on its platform.”
Twitter allegedly did so under pressure from team Biden. Klos: “By revealing these moderation decisions, Musk seems to want to show that Twitter made biased decisions towards certain political content.”
‘Overly strict house rules’
Conservative America had long been dissatisfied with social media’s moderation policies, says professor of information law Joris van Hoboken. “The right side of the spectrum feels that more conservative views get too little airtime on social media and that things are deleted too easily and that house rules are too strict.”
Musk also feels that “conservative and non-liberal views were given too little space,” Van Hoboken says. And so with Musk at the helm came some sweeping changes to Twitter’s policies. The social medium no longer enforces its own fake news policy and allows accounts previously suspended for fake news or discrimination to return.
So Trump’s account is back up, and rapper Kanye West got his account back in October after he was previously suspended for anti-Semitic remarks.
More racism
But now it appears there is also a limit to Musk’s idea of freedom of speech. After new anti-Semitic statements, including praising Hitler, Twitter revoked West’s account anyway.
It raises the question of how Twitter will manage tweets from now on. Since Musk’s takeover, many employees who moderated tweets have been fired or left themselves out of dissatisfaction with the new policy. “Twitter has lost some of its very best people,” says Van Hoboken. “People who are international leaders on disinformation or hate speech policies.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times writes that since Musk took office, the number of racist tweets against black Americans has tripled. Homophobic and anti-Semitic tweets are also said to have increased sharply.
“Social platforms may set their own rules for who they allow in.” Michael Klos, associate professor of law
And those Twitter Files? Those hardly seem to show bias. Twitter quickly allowed the article about Hunter Biden back onto the platform when it turned out that the story was largely true. Initially, there were serious doubts whether the emails and documents the article was based on were real, partly because the New York Post did not allow other journalists or experts to see them.
So the fact that Twitter decided to temporarily block the article is not at all surprising, says Klos. “In those Twitter Files, I actually see a normal content moderation process. The platform is trying to weigh up different interests, in which you consider all possible risks, and you still have to act quickly. Such a Twitter moderation team often only has a few hours for a decision.”
Constitution
The Twitter Files would also prove that before the Musk era, Twitter violated the US Constitution by infringing Article 1, freedom of speech. But, says Klos, it is precisely under that article that companies have a “very broad freedom” to make their own decisions. “Online platforms have actually set up a living room where they allow other people in. They are allowed to set their own rules for that.”
