The New York Times cited leftist groups to bash Elon Musk’s Twitter, claiming more free speech has led to a supposed escalation of “hate speech” online.
In its Dec. 2 article, “Hate Speech’s Rise on Twitter Is Unprecedented, Researchers Find,” The New York Times cited leftist groups the Center for Countering Digital Hate and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to allege that hate speech has skyrocketed on new Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s watch.
Musk previously challenged the claim that hate speech increased under his watch when he tweeted a graph Nov. 23. “Hate speech impressions down by 1/3 from pre-spike levels,” he tweeted. “Congrats to Twitter team!” Researchers admitted that the supposed surge of hate speech began before Musk loosened Twitter’s speech restrictions, according to The Times.
One of the “experts” The Times cited to bash Twitter is the UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The biased and discredited CCDH released a February report urging more censorship called “The Toxic Ten” of supposed “climate change denial.” The list targeted conservative outlets including Media Research Center, Breitbart, and The Daily Wire.
“Problematic content and formerly barred accounts have increased sharply in the short time since Elon Musk took over,” The Times claimed. The outlet specifically mentioned anti-Semitism in connection to CCDH and ADL research and Kanye “Ye” West, whom Musk suspended.
Further, the article seemingly equated “QAnon” and “Islamic State” accounts, which The Times noted have resurfaced or purchased verification on Twitter. The Times did not complain about Iran’s anti-Semitic Ayatollah Khamenei, who has not been banned on Twitter and never was prior to Musk’s takeover. But bias is expected in an article citing the CCDH.
“Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist and homophobe that Twitter was open for business,” said Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of CCDH. “They have reacted accordingly.”
The Times also claimed anti-LGBTQ hatred increased on Twitter. The outlet admitted that the hate speech “numbers are relatively small,” but quickly added, “increases were atypically high.”
The article complained about the restoration of former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account and the recent end of Twitter’s restrictive COVID-19 “misleading information” policy. It said advertisers “are concerned that the quality of discussions on the platform will suffer” due to increased free speech.
Yael Eisenstat, a vice president at the ADL, whined that Musk didn’t seem interested in the group’s pro-censorship proposals when they met. “We have advised Musk that Twitter should not just keep the policies it has had in place for years, it should dedicate resources to those policies,” Eisenstat told The Times.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Twitter at 415-222-9670 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
