New Delhi (India), 5th April 2023: Trans rights activists have accused the microblogging site of deliberately targeting tweets that include words like ‘trans’, ‘LGBTQ’ and ‘BLM’. It appears that Twitter is making it harder to view particular direct messaged tweets.
Twitter users claimed the business had made it more challenging to view tweets sent by direct message that describe sexual orientation and gender identity when they first noticed the apparent bug.
Insider tested the accuracy of the claims by tweeting statements like, “Here’s a test tweet that contains the word gay,” to see which tweets appeared in direct message previews.
The messages showed as a URL link rather than in a preview format in Insider’s test tweets that contained the words “trans,” “transgender,” “gay,” “lesbian,” “queer,” “bisexual,” and “intersex.” The only exception was the term “bisexuality,” which appeared as a tweet preview that was simpler to read.
A request for comment was not quickly answered by Twitter, and the company did not say whether the apparent direct message bug was a conscious decision.
Before purchasing Twitter for $44 billion last year, Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform, frequently criticised content moderation and censorship on social media sites and has previously referred to himself as a “free speech absolutist.”
Musk has repeatedly gotten into trouble for his comments about the transgender community, most notably in 2020 when he tweeted (and later deleted) “pronouns suck,” likely alluding to people’s preferences for what pronouns they use.
While the tweets containing these words are not outright banned, the social media giant’s approach to choosing which tweets can appear as previews in private messages may be a new form of content moderation under Musk’s leadership.
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