As Elon Musk takes over, right-wingers ‘test’ Twitter with conspiracy tweets
- Conservative pundits posted buzzwords such ‘Trump won’ to see whether they would be penalised, while extremist users circulated racial slurs and Nazi imagery
- Those who embraced Musk’s call to make the platform a haven of ‘free speech’ were eager to see what they could get away with
Soon after Elon Musk took control of Twitter, some conservative personalities wasted no time to jump on the platform and recirculate long-debunked conspiracy theories in a tongue-in-cheek attempt to “test” whether Twitter’s policies on misinformation were still being enforced.
While no immediate policy changes had been announced by Friday afternoon, that did not stop users from cheering – or criticising – what they expected to be a quick embrace of Musk’s pledges to cut back on moderation in the name of promoting free speech.
In a Tweet posted on Friday afternoon, Musk said Twitter will be forming a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints”, and “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes”.
But during much of the day, those who embraced Musk’s call to make Twitter a haven of “free speech” were eager to see what they could get away with.
Popular right-wing pundits tweeted buzzwords such as “ivermectin”, and “Trump won” to see whether they would be penalised for content they suggested would previously have been flagged.