Study finds persistent spike in hate speech on X (news.berkeley.edu)
from BoycottPro@lemm.ee to technology@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 17:43
https://lemm.ee/post/67464596

#technology

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Fredselfish@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 17:46 next collapse

Well yeah site own by a nazi.

BoycottPro@lemm.ee on 21 Jun 17:51 collapse

100%! I’m sure you’re not using it but if you have friends/family still on there urge them to quit using Twitter.

Fredselfish@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 17:55 next collapse

No one I personally know uses it. I quit the moment he bought Twitter.

BoycottPro@lemm.ee on 21 Jun 17:58 collapse

That’s excellent! Hopefully there will be more and more people who don’t know anyone who uses Twitter.

GladiusB@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 19:01 collapse

I don’t really hear many talk about social media. But that’s because I don’t go on anything but this. I definitely don’t talk about it in every day conversation either.

BlueZen@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 17:46 next collapse

Study also finds that the sky is blue.

oxysis@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 21 Jun 18:09 collapse

Study also finds that fire is hot.

Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 18:07 next collapse

Isn’t a “persistent spike” just an increase?

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 18:20 next collapse

An increase that never stops increasing.

Goretantath@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 18:46 next collapse

And a rapid one.

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 21 Jun 19:30 collapse

Who’d have guessed that Musk’s promise to “maximize free speech” was just a dogwhistle to allow the worst of society to say all the worst things with no pushback.

Oh yeah I guess everyone guessed that. None of these fucks cares about “free speech” they want “free speech without consequences specifically for me, but definitely consequences for the speech of people I don’t like.”

ter_maxima@jlai.lu on 21 Jun 19:44 collapse

Turns out “free speech” on a platform controlled by one guy can only ever be a lie.

lars@lemmy.sdf.org on 22 Jun 03:52 collapse

So delighted (probably not the right word, feeling) that this was the top comment when I arrived.

DrFistington@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 18:19 next collapse

So if you do nothing to prevent a problem, and In fact, actively encourage the problem, it gets worse?

cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone on 21 Jun 18:29 next collapse

considering the ceo, linda yaccarino, spends all day retweeting conspiracy theories and nazi propaganda i'm not surprised.

BoycottPro@lemm.ee on 21 Jun 18:47 collapse

I wasn’t aware of this before. No wonder Musk felt comfortable stepping down as CEO, he just appointed a like-minded person.

TomMasz@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 18:32 next collapse

I wouldn’t say it’s a “spike”, Bob.

MemmingenFan923@feddit.org on 21 Jun 18:45 next collapse

Leaving X(/Twitter) is one of the best thing you can do for your mental health

Goretantath@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 18:46 next collapse

No shit.

gedaliyah@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 18:51 next collapse

Anyone still on Twitter is fine hanging out in a Nazi bar.

[deleted] on 23 Jun 19:32 collapse

.

Pro@programming.dev on 21 Jun 18:54 next collapse

Article Date: February 13, 2025

Numerous studies have reported an increase in hate speech on X (formerly Twitter) in the months immediately following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform on October 27th, 2022; relatedly, despite Musk’s pledge to “defeat the spam bots,” a recent study reported no substantial change in the concentration of inauthentic accounts. However, it is not known whether any of these trends endured. We address this by examining material posted on X from the beginning of 2022 through June 2023, the period that includes Musk’s full tenure as CEO. We find that the increase in hate speech just before Musk bought X persisted until at least May of 2023, with the weekly rate of hate speech being approximately 50% higher than the months preceding his purchase, although this increase cannot be directly attributed to any policy at X. The increase is seen across multiple dimensions of hate, including racism, homophobia, and transphobia. Moreover, there is a doubling of hate post “likes,” indicating increased engagement with hate posts. In addition to measuring hate speech, we also measure the presence of inauthentic accounts on the platform; these accounts are often used in spam and malicious information campaigns. We find no reduction (and a possible increase) in activity by these users after Musk purchased X, which could point to further negative outcomes, such as the potential for scams, interference in elections, or harm to public health campaigns. 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.

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org on 21 Jun 19:05 next collapse

X is for nazis. Tell your friends.

andyburke@fedia.io on 21 Jun 19:15 next collapse

Tesla, too!

jumping_redditor@sh.itjust.works on 21 Jun 20:56 collapse

I’d leave it for good if there were non *chan alternatives with anywhere nearly as much hatred and drama

FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io on 21 Jun 19:27 next collapse

Nazi bar doing Nazi bar things.

SalamenceFury@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 19:30 next collapse

Surprise surprise, when the CEO is a Nazi, Nazis think it’s free eats!

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 21 Jun 19:39 next collapse

yall been posting some amazing water is wet science lately.

ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 19:58 next collapse

Somehow, the most reasonable account on Vichy Twitter is Grok because it’s hard to train an LLM using only data dumbasses wrote.

BoycottPro@lemm.ee on 21 Jun 20:00 collapse

Sadly that’s going to change. Musk is going to push an update that I suspect will turn Grok into a far-right disinformation parrot or become closer to that. See lemm.ee/post/67429541 and lemm.ee/post/67216433

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com on 21 Jun 20:19 collapse

He keeps trying. He seems to think that can be done by just putting his thumb on the system prompt, and then we end up with obvious nonsense like that South African white genocide preoccupation. It’s fortunate the Musk isn’t smart enough to figure out how to do it subtly.

barsoap@lemm.ee on 22 Jun 06:00 collapse

I’m nowhere close to being an LLM specialist but to actually skew the model itself I think you need a lot of consistent data. Ten thousand alt-right blogs peddling a hundred thousand internally inconsistent and mutually incompatible narratives won’t cut it, they’ll criss-cross over the gradient landscape and because they don’t coincide, won’t make a dent in the deep groves trodden by pirating libgen. And training only on the alt-right blogs won’t cut it either that’s just not enough data which on top of that doesn’t sound smart enough to woo anyone, or have any resemblance of a consistent stance. Sure you’ll get it to claim ridiculous shit and use lots of slurs but 4chan managed to do that back in 2016 and noone was fooled.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com on 22 Jun 06:47 collapse

All very good points.

wanderwisley@lemm.ee on 21 Jun 20:26 next collapse

You just now found out about this?

BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 21:15 next collapse

Then it’s not a spike, it’s a trend. Created by, mostly (hopefully) bots, there to move the overton window and normalise racism and hyper-regressive world views to divide the working class while the rich use us as Cannon fodder for their genocide against our fellow working class. Wankers.

LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 21 Jun 23:44 collapse

Its working, horrifyingly. In several communities lately ive seen moderators start to treat violent racism and antisemitism as personal beliefs that do not on their own necessitate banning. This in private progressive leaning communities too. Eugencist christian white nationalism is becoming a normal tolerated ideology to have.

Instagram is especially bad too. I see a lot of people talking about Twitter, but not enough about Instagram.

Geodad@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 21:19 next collapse

In other news, grass is green.

Darkcoffee@sh.itjust.works on 21 Jun 22:17 next collapse

Will someone tell the 60% bot userbase?

Almacca@aussie.zone on 22 Jun 01:03 next collapse

‘Persistent spike’ is up there with ‘vehicle constantly stopping’ as a nonsense phrase. :) And this from an educational institution?

jsomae@lemmy.ml on 22 Jun 01:06 collapse

Constantly means habitually. I can’t even begin to formulate an apology for persistent spike though.

Almacca@aussie.zone on 22 Jun 01:13 collapse

I’m seeing the more accurate ‘vehicle frequently stopping’ a lot more these days, so someone twigged to it.

devolution@lemmy.world on 22 Jun 04:19 next collapse

No shit. Really?

RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world on 22 Jun 05:39 next collapse

“Persistent spike” isn’t a spike. That’s the status quo.

Transtronaut@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 22 Jun 14:42 collapse

The new analysis contradicts the social media platform’s claims that exposure to hate speech and bot-like activity decreased during Elon Musk’s tenure.

They might both be right. I know my exposure to hate speech and bot-like activity decreased since I stopped engaging with that platform.