Hate speech and spam bots abound on X under Elon Musk, study shows

'These factors can undermine safe and democratic online environments, and increase the risk of offline harms,' study claims

A study casts doubt on promises made by Elon Musk just before his purchase of Twitter, which he renamed X. AFP

Since Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in October of 2022, hate speech and spam bots remains a significant area of concern on the platform, now called X, according to a study.

“Overall, the long-term increase in hate speech, and the prevalence of potentially inauthentic accounts, are concerning, as these factors can undermine safe and democratic online environments, and increase the risk of offline harms,” read the study released on Wednesday.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Berkeley, Los Angeles and Southern California campuses of the University of California, and examined material posted on X from the beginning of 2022 through June of 2023.

The authors of the report said that data suggests an increase of users “liking” and “engaging” with hateful posts. “The weekly rate at which hate content was liked significantly increased – by 70 per cent – in contradiction to Elon Musk’s claims about decreased engagement with hate material,” the report said.

Right before his purchase of Twitter was completed in 2022, Mr Musk dragged his feet, claiming that the platform underreported the amount of “inauthentic”, or bot, accounts, which in turn caused him to overpay for the platform.

Yet ultimately, he bought Twitter anyway, and pledged that under his ownership, the amount of inauthentic behaviour would taper off. “If our Twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying,” he posted to X on April 21, 2022.

But the new study alleges that did not happen, especially when it comes to disinformation. “Moreover, we find that, following Musk’s acquisition, co-ordinated account activity associated with information campaigns increased more than non-co-ordinated activity,” the study said.

Shortly after he purchased Twitter, Mr Musk made no secret of his intentions to gut the company of what he viewed as superfluous staffing.

Mean likes and reposts of (a) hate posts and (b) baseline posts before and after Musk’s takeover. Black vertical lines represent standard errors. Source: PLOS ONE

Affected in the several rounds of layoffs were the trust and safety team, along with the content moderation experts who worked at the platform.

A greater emphasis was put on X's community notes service, a crowdsourced way of trying to blunt misinformation and disinformation.

However, according to the study, those efforts have largely been ineffective. “When comparing the weekly rate of hate speech posts, there is a clear increase in the average number of posts containing hate speech following Musk’s purchase. The estimated average number of posts containing hate speech per week before Musk’s purchase was 2,179, compared to 3,246 after Musk’s purchase, a 50 per cent increase,” the study stated.

Meanwhile, Mr Musk continues to draw scrutiny for his own posts on the platform, as well as his public behaviour. Late in January, he raised eyebrows by giving a video address to a campaign rally for Germany's anti-immigration AfD party.

A week prior, he caused outrage after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, when he made a hand gesture that was seen by many as resembling a straight-armed Nazi salute.

The recent antics have caused some to speculate that Mr Musk has no plans to blunt hate speech on one of the world's most popular social media platforms.

The increase in hate speech on X, combined with the lack of content moderation, has caused the platform to struggle to secure advertisers and led to an exodus of hundreds of thousands of users. Alternative platforms such as Threads, BlueSky and Mastodon have rushed to fill the void.

X chief executive Linda Yaccarino has not indicated that there will be any introspection or change in the weeks ahead when it comes to the platform's approach to content moderation. “Innovation over regulation,” she posted to X. “The right to the freedom of speech must be protected.”