Twitter claims hate speech is 30 per cent lower since Elon Musk acquisition. Experts disagree

Twitter has claimed that hate speech has dropped by 30 per cent since Elon Musk took over the platform, but expert researchers say otherwise.

A great deal of research has been conducted following Musk’s takeover of Twitter in 2023, with most noting a rise of hate speech on the platform.

Despite this, Twitter recently shared findings of an independent assessment, conducted by Sprinklr, on Tuesday (18 July). According to the software company’s s AI-powered model, the reach of hate speech on Twitter represents “an extremely small fraction of the overall conversation”. 

Sprinklr research claims that from 1 January to 31 May 2023, the average daily number of English-language hate speech is 0.003 per cent compared with Twitter’s own, higher, estimate of 0.012 per cent. 

“Additionally, we estimate hate speech impressions are 30 per cent lower on average vs. pre-acquisition,” Sprinklr stated. 

*‘We’ve not seen action from Twitter’ *

However, Joe Mulhall, the director of research at HOPE not hate, told PinkNews: “While Twitter is claiming to be cleaning up hate speech on their platform, this does not ring true to us or the minority groups affected.

“Despite reporting numerous examples of anti-LGBT+ slurs, we’ve not seen action from Twitter. This begs the question as to whether Twitter’s ‘success’ is down to moving the goal posts.”