[Updated] Twitter 'Hate speech is not free speech' Change.org petition gains 50K+ votes in a short time span

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on December 5, 2022) follows:

After introducing a number of precarious changes to Twitter, we saw how Elon Musk put the micro-blogging site at the risk of a shutdown.

Being a self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist, he kept the intentions of promoting free speech on the platform quite clear since day one. This could also be the reason for a recent issue that’s keeping users from viewing ‘sensitive content’.

Even though Elon Musk clarified that by ‘free speech’ he meant he is against ‘censorship that goes far beyond the law’. It seems that this policy is somehow not really upholding the law but furthering hate speech.

Twitter ‘hate speech is not free speech’

Coincidentally, a number of users (1,2,3,4,5) are in fact seeing hate-mongering on the rise under the garb of free speech introduced by Elon.

Hate speech and racism is not free speech..and Twitter is now, just, one giant disinformation source.
Source

So free speech is the slogan for elons Twitter, just don’t talk about jews? There’s much worse being said on the platform so who decides what’s hate speech and what’s just an opinion?
Source

Several users are already calling the platform a cesspool of misinformation and delusions. The prime example of this has to be Kanye West’s comments on Hitler.

Fortunately, the team took immediate notice of the matter, and suspended Ye’s account. But it definitely points to a bigger implication that Twitter just cannot allow free speech that is largely unchecked.

This also puts us in the position to bring to your notice the Change.org petition dubbed ‘Hate Speech is Not Free Speech’ that has already garnered 50k+ votes in a span of about 4 weeks.

Even though such reports about hate speech and misinformation continue to sustain, Elon Musk claims that impressions of hate speech have drastically reduced.

He also deemed the platform safe for advertisers who had previously pulled their ads off from Twitter and also asked them to come back.

Just a note to thank advertisers for returning to Twitter
Source

Therefore, it seems that even though hate speech is still present on the platform, there are improvements being made in filtering out such malignancy.

It’ll be interesting to note how Elon Musk will further deal with the allegations that Twitter is promoting hate speech and not free speech.

We’ll keep tabs on the latest developments and update this article as and when something noteworthy comes up.

10:35 am (IST): Hate speech against the LBGTQ+ community on Twitter has been an active point of discussion for quite some time. Elon Musk recently posted an ironic tweet that mocked people who specify their pronouns.

In response to criticism, Elon Musk has doubled-down and stated that forcing pronouns on others is not a practice he supports. He also expressed his opinion regarding Fauci in the same tweet.

I strongly disagree. Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone.
As for Fauci, he lied to Congress and funded gain-of-function research that killed millions of people. Not awesome IMO.
Source

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Twitter section so be sure to follow them as well.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.