Internet: Online researchers sued by Musks X make new allegations

2023-09-13 17:53:24

Internet Online researchers sued by Musks X make new allegations

A few weeks ago, X went to court against online researchers who uncover hate speech and misinformation online. photo

© Monika Skolimowska/dpa

Researchers are causing a stir with reports on the spread of hate speech and lies on the X platform. Elon Musk is taking the researchers to court. They are now following up.

The of Elon Musk’s online platform X is being sued by hate speech researchers with new criticism. The organization CCDH reported 300 racist and anti-Semitic posts from 100 accounts to X (formerly Twitter) at the end of August.

A week later, 259 of the posts were still available and 90 of the accounts were still active, according to a published report by the CCDH (Center for Countering Digital Hate).

In addition to the posts, advertisements from Apple and Disney, among others, were also displayed, the researchers reported. Musk and the X boss he appointed, Linda Yaccarino, promise companies a safe environment for their advertising. After Musk bought Twitter, many advertisers withdrew from the platform out of concern for their image. Advertising revenue – X’s most important source of money – is only half what it was before the takeover.

X contradicts the online researchers

X denied, without giving further details, that the service had done nothing about irregular posts and that they had reached a larger audience. According to Musk’s ideas, there should be a lot of freedom of speech at X, but the reach of some contributions could be limited.

A few weeks ago, X went to court against online researchers who uncover hate speech and misinformation online. The service accused CCDH of unlawfully accessing its data. X suffered damage as a result of researchers’ reports because advertisers dropped out, the lawsuit said.

dpa