With Elon Musk’s recent purchase of Twitter, and his subsequent chaotic leadership of the company, the Center for the Study of Social Policy has made the decision to pause our use of the platform while waiting to see how the situation evolves. Since Musk took ownership of the company, he has made clear his intention to weaken community standards, making room for misinformation and hate speech to thrive unchecked under the guise of protecting free speech. This type of toxic environment is completely antithetical to our organizational values. And while Twitter remains an important platform for reaching our audiences and directly combatting this type of hate speech, we must take a moment to analyze whether any value remains in staying. It is our intention to monitor Musk’s leadership and its effects on the Twitter community in the coming weeks and make a decision about how we will proceed before the end of 2022.
