Photo: Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images
LeBron Jamesis speaking out concerning a new report on the recent uptick of hate speech on Twitter.
AfterElon Muskcompleted his$44 billion acquisitionof the social media company on Friday, a slew ofanonymous user accounts emerged on Twitter, exhibiting racial slurs including Nazi memes and the N-word to test out the limit of the company’s new moderation policies,The Washington Postreported.
“I don’t know Elon Musk and, tbh, I couldn’t care less who owns Twitter. But I will say that if this is true, I hopehe and his people take this very seriouslybecause this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech,” said James, 37,citing the new researchincluded in aBusiness Insiderarticle.
The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) tweeted on Friday, “over the last 12 hours, the use of the N-word hasincreased nearly 500%from the previous average.”
Musk, 51, has previously sparked concerns over his seemingly relaxed attitude towards content moderation, which includes his thoughts onreversing Donald Trump’s permanent ban.
But shortly before the Twitter takeover was finalized, Musk issued a public letter to advertisers, assuring them that he didn’t want the platform to “become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”
He also replied to a Tweet from an account that has spread unfounded claims aboutthe legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, according to NBC News. In response to the user’s concern that Twitter was removing followers and preventing their content from being seen, Musk replied, “I will be digging in more today.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The Washington Postreported that some hateful and explicit messages had been taken down later on Friday.
source: people.com
