With a single keystroke, Elon Musk shook the Twittersphere to its core. Elon Musk’s rapid takeover of Twitter brought about many controversial changes that drew criticism for his apparent lack of consideration for employees.
First, Musk cut the workforce for the platform in half. Then, he terminated the remote work policy which was established during quarantine and was popular among the employees.
“Changing the name of Twitter to something as boring X is just crazy to me. Elon also has changed a lot of the policies from the original and has ruined the platform in my opinion,” said Jamel Husseini, a junior.
An ongoing issue under Elon Musk’s leadership of X is the platform’s approach to handling misinformation and hate speech. Musk’s decision to disband the previous employees who were responsible for monitoring and combating these issues has raised concerns about the platform’s ability to combat harmful tweets from well-known hate mongers.
“X is good for spreading awareness and uniting people but, at the same time, it has a history of witch-hunting and bullying. People on it can seem so inhumane and full of hate,” said Sajjad Khan, a senior.
The removal of key features aimed at curbing misinformation and hate speech has led to increased criticism from social media personalities and advocacy groups alike. Musk tried to fix this issue by introducing community notes, but this has proved to have its own bias issue. Under Musk, slurs against African Americans have gone from an average 1,282 a day to 3,876, according to The New York Times.
Since Elon Musk has taken responsibility for X, the platform has also seen many changes to its monetization strategies. For example, Elon has removed news headlines from articles and has also started to charge for verification. Musk has also made the famous blue check available to all people and not just internet personalities, for the price of a membership which is $8/month.
The public perception of X has also shifted drastically due to Musk’s reinstatement of controversial figures who were previously banned on twitter; one notable figure is Donald Trump. This has, of course, paved the way for many people to dislike X while others have become staunch supporters of X
The number of people dissatisfied with X, however, far exceeds the number of those who are impressed. When Musk purchased twitter, it had 368 million users, projections point to this decreasing to 335 million by next year, according to Tech.co.
“Website X is important for free speech, and it is cool because you can see things on there you can’t see anywhere else,” said Darius St. Victor, a senior.
The new version of Twitter has come a long way; however, it may have gone on the wrong side of the hill. Studies show an increase in hate speech, a decrease in engagement and a shift in the makeup of users on X. Only time will tell if X can make a U-Turn or if it will continue to go down the path of ruin.
