{"id":153861,"date":"2023-05-02T13:55:04","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T08:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=153861"},"modified":"2023-05-02T22:26:51","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:56:51","slug":"return-of-suspended-accounts-policy-muddle-make-musks-twitter-a-free-for-all-hellscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/return-of-suspended-accounts-policy-muddle-make-musks-twitter-a-free-for-all-hellscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Return of suspended accounts, policy muddle make Musk’s Twitter a ‘free-for-all hellscape’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In April 2022, Twitter announced<\/a> that it had accepted tech mogul Elon Musk’s offer to acquire the company at a whopping $44 billion, following which it would become a privately held company. A month before that, Musk had disclosed<\/a> a major stake in the company during a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. Initially, the company had announced<\/a> that Musk would be joining the board, but Musk reportedly declined<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Later, in a more aggressive move, he offered to buy the company<\/a> at $44 billion, his ‘best and final’ offer. Over the next few days, Musk and Twitter reached a deal. However, on May 13, Musk tweeted<\/a> that the deal had been put on hold over concerns related to the prevalence of bot and spam accounts on the platform. A few hours later, he tweeted<\/a> that he was “still committed to the acquisition”.<\/p>\n

The acquisition was eventually completed in late October. But the drama leading up to the actual acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk was like a precursor to what the Musk-led platform had to offer — bizarre policy moves, claims of free speech and actions wholly detrimental to the cause, and random moves that either stayed or got rolled back at Elon’s whims, to name a few.<\/p>\n

The Moderation Council That Never Was<\/h4>\n

One of the first tweets by Elon Musk after the acquisition<\/a> was a video of himself walking into the Twitter headquarters carrying a sink. The same day, he penned an open letter to advertisers. it said, “It is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”<\/p>\n

On October, 28, Musk announced<\/a> that Twitter would have a moderation council and that “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.” Ironically, one of the first directives<\/a> made by Musk after he took over was the reinstatement of Babylon Bee<\/a>, a satirical site that had been suspended for an anti-trans tweet. A month later, Babylon Bee, former US President Donald Trump, and various other figures were welcomed back to the platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, the promised moderation council never happened. While responding to a tweet, Musk said that the moderation council was based on the fact that a ‘coalition of political\/activist’ groups had agreed not to encourage advertisers to leave the platform. Musk claimed that the group had broken the deal hence the council never took off. Speaking to CNBC<\/a>, various members of this coalition denied having such a deal.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, Musk’s understanding of content moderation became clear when he suspended the account of Ye (formerly known as Kanye West). The account of the musician was suspended after he shared an image of a swastika combined with the Star of David. Responding to a user, Elon wrote<\/a>, “I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.”<\/p>\n

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According to two former employees who spoke to The Washington Post<\/a> on condition of anonymity, Ye’s tweet would have violated Twitter\u2019s rules on hateful content, not incitement to violence. In the same week, Musk announced<\/a> that Twitter would reinstate all suspended accounts based on a Twitter poll.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, when Musk did a poll asking whether he should step down as CEO, his ardent supporters suggested<\/a> that Twitter polls could be swarmed by ‘bots’ and that only Twitter blue subscribers should be allowed to vote in policy-related decisions. Interestingly, the fact that Twitter polls are prone to manipulation<\/a> was already raised by former employees and researchers. It is just that these concerns did not matter as long as polls were yielding favourable results.<\/p>\n

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While Elon Musk was busy organizing polls, on November 18 in India, editor-in-chief of the pro-BJP propaganda channel Sudarshan News Suresh Chavhanke tweeted to his 6,00,000 followers an invitation card<\/a> for a wedding reception of an interfaith couple, thus revealing the venue of the event and putting the couple and their families at risk of physical violence — a clear case of violation of Twitter’s policy.<\/p>\n

This wedding event was eventually cancelled. This tweet continues to be available on the platform even today. Suresh Chavhanke never faced any consequences. Interestingly, almost a month later, Twitter temporarily suspended<\/a> the accounts of multiple journalists because they ‘doxxed’ the real-time location of Elon Musk by reporting or sharing about the popular jet tracking account @ElonJet.<\/p>\n

Amplify Misinformation, Hate and Threats, All at \u20b9650 per month<\/h4>\n

It was clear from the beginning that very few prominent Twitter users would succumb to the pressure of subscribing to Twitter Blue. The flip-flops on the feature has been the butt of joke<\/a>s on the platform since Musk took over. Recently, it became clear that half of all the Twitter Blue subscribers had less than 1,000 followers<\/a> (this data is before the legacy blue tick purge of April 20, 2023). Not only that, there has been an uptick of hateful content, conspiracy theories and even denialism on the platform. (Reports can be found here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Alt News checked close to two dozen Twitter Blue subscriber accounts which have more than 10,000 followers and predominantly engage in content related to India. We found that these accounts not only amplified dangerous communal misinformation but also regularly participated in trolling, amplifying political propaganda, doxxing and sharing content that stereotyped marginalized communities. Some of these accounts have been reinstated on the platform because of the ‘general amnesty’ that was granted based on a Twitter poll last year.<\/p>\n

One of the accounts called ‘@MrSinha_<\/a>‘ that was reinstated by Twitter on December 26<\/a> had amplified dangerous communal misinformation within four days of being active on the platform. On December 30, when Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant met with a near-fatal car crash, @MrSinha_ tweeted<\/a> that the cricketer had met with an accident in a Rohingya-dominated area and that instead of helping him, the locals looted all his belongings and ran away.<\/p>\n

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This was entirely false as police clarified in a video statement<\/a>. In fact, Pant was saved by Haryana Roadways Bus operators Sushil Kumar and Paramjeet Nain.<\/a> The two had contacted the police, saved Pant’s life and handed his valuables to him while the paramedics were taking him away.<\/p>\n

This user has amplified communal and political misinformation on multiple occasions since being reinstated (here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In March this year, when a migrant crisis in Tamil Nadu was fueled by misinformation, verified Twitter Blue user Mohammed Tanvir<\/a> was among the prominent enablers of panic on social media. This user shared three graphic videos claiming that they were visuals from Tamil Nadu where Bihari migrant workers were being lynched. Alt News independently debunked<\/a> two of the three clips shared by Tanvir. The Tamil Nadu Police also issued a statement debunking these claims.<\/p>\n

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Monu Manesar, a cow vigilante from Haryana<\/a>, who has been accused of the murder of two Muslim individuals and is apparently on the run was<\/a> also a verified Twitter Blue<\/a> user until things blew out of proportion and his alleged deeds came under the spotlight. This is in stark contrast to what happened in the case of Suresh Chavhanke, who tweeted the address of an interfaith wedding reception. The tweet was simply never removed because it never caught the attention of international media.<\/p>\n

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Ritesh Jha, who rose to fame<\/a> in the spring of 2021 for doing a YouTube live stream in which the channel\u2019s audience ‘rated’ Pakistani women, ‘auctioned’ them off to each other, and posted sexually charged comments on their looks and clothes, is also a verified Twitter Blue user. Jha who goes by the pseudonym ‘Liberal Doge’, has been at it for over two years and was the inspiration for the GitHub apps ‘Bulli Bai’ and ‘Sulli Deals’, which did a similar auction of Twitter accounts of Indian Muslim women.<\/p>\n

Below is a collage of some of the tweets and replies made by Ritesh Jha alias Liberal Doge as a Twitter Blue subscriber.<\/p>\n