
Photo credit: Twitter
In the short time since Elon Musk took over Twitter in late October 2022, the platform has taken several steps that have empowered extremists. Chief among them: the decision to sell the “verified” blue check mark and grant “amnesty” to suspended Twitter accounts.
In the past few weeks, the ADL noted both an increase in antisemitic content on the platform and a decrease in the moderation of antisemitic posts, a troubling situation that will likely get worse, given the reported cuts to Twitter’s content moderation staff. These changes are already affecting the proliferation of hate on Twitter, and the return of extremists of all kinds to the platform has the potential to supercharge the spread of extremist content and disinformation. This may also lead to increased harassment of users.
The Blue Checkmark
On November 1, 2022, Musk announced that Twitter’s blue checkmark would be available for purchase for $8 a month. Initially conceived in 2009 as a way to verify that a Twitter account actually belonged to a person or entity, over time it became an indicator of a poster’s trusted status. Musk’s decision to monetize the blue check means extremists can adopt a degree of legitimacy. While Musk now says he is launching a more thoughtful, tiered checkmark process, it will be difficult to evaluate as his actions to date have not followed a transparent process, with the input of civil society leaders, as he had promised.
The Center on Extremism is tracking several extremists who are exploiting this development:
Many of these newly verified extremists regularly share hateful and conspiratorial content as well as links to more extreme spaces, creating a potential radicalization pipeline that could help these toxic ideologies spread.
“Amnesty”
On November 24, 2022, Musk posted a Twitter poll asking whether suspended accounts should be reinstated provided they have not “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” After 72% voted yes (it should be noted that such a poll was vulnerable to bots, foreign influence campaigns, and other forms of manipulation), Musk declared that amnesty would happen, though he did not specify a date. This represents a dramatic shift in extremists’ access to mainstream platforms, which has the potential to energize and amplify extremist movements and beliefs, providing bad actors with a wider audience and range of targets.
Some extremists encouraged their supporters to vote in the poll:
Even before the amnesty, problematic figures and extremists joined twitter or reactivated their suspended Twitter accounts and an amnesty will likely accelerate these efforts.
Former President Trump, who used the platform in the wake of the 2020 election to help foment the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, had his account reinstated – although to date, he has still not tweeted – but he is not alone: