Twitter Insiders Fear Elon Musk Heralds a Troll Takeover

Employees and moderation advisers say loosening the platform’s rules would bring on an era of increased toxicity, causing users from marginalized backgrounds to flee.

By Tom Simonite and Vittoria Elliott, April 28, 2022

AT A TWITTER company meeting Monday about the decision to accept Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition offer, CEO Parag Agrawal avoided speculating on how its new owner might change the platform. For one employee watching, Musk’s public comments had already made the likely consequences clear: Twitter appeared poised to loosen content moderation, making it a less welcoming place for both users and advertisers.

“There’s an insane amount of abuse against people of color and gay people, and literal Nazis on the platform, we have to block out,” says the employee, who works on Twitter’s business development team. “If you take away restrictions and let Twitter fill with hate speech, people aren’t going to want to come there anymore.”

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