Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover bid may stifle marginalized groups: experts

Musk's bid to buy Twitter has spurred speculation that the tech mogul's promises to foster "free speech'' could translate into a hands-off approach to harassment.

A sense of unease is percolating in some pockets of Twitter over concerns that Elon Musk‘s pending takeover could amplify toxic elements on the platform and drown out marginalized voices.

Musk’s US$44-billion bid to buy Twitter has spurred speculation that the tech mogul’s promises to foster “free speech” on the social network could translate into a hands-off approach to harassment.

This prospect is particularly disconcerting for members of marginalized groups who have found community on Twitter despite being targets of online abuse.

Some experts and Twitter users say they’re waiting to see whether Musk manages to push the deal through regulatory hurdles that could thwart his plans.

But there are already signs that the Tesla CEO’s influence may be shifting the makeup of the social network. A Twitter Canada spokesperson said in an email that the social media giant is looking into “fluctuations in follower counts,” with more accounts being created and also deactivated in recent days.

Jaigris Hodson, the Canada Research Chair in Digital Communication for the Public Interest, said these early signs suggest that Musk’s self-described “free speech absolutist” philosophy could in practice stifle the speech of Twitter’s most vulnerable users.

“After being abused online, people will cease posting themselves, because they don’t want to invite that kind of abuse,” said Hodson, an associate professor at Royal Roads University. “That’s actually the opposite of what Musk wants, which is for people to freely speak their minds.”

Her research indicates that when social networks fail to moderate harmful content, users who experience harassment are likely to reduce their engagement or even delete their accounts.