Naturally, many companies have stopped advertising on Twitter. The latest rumors state that Twitter may have lost nearly 60% of its ad revenue year-over-year. Musk, rather than treat the apparent problem by enacting better moderation and once again making harassment, threats, and hate speech against trans people against his rules, has instead doubled down. His company is now suing researchers who attempted to prove Twitter’s lax moderation and permissive hate speech hurt the platform. That, so far, includes media watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and now the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL was established to stop antisemitic hate, but has also expanded to cover racist, homophobic, and transphobic hate speech on occasion as well. With Twitter apparently becoming a home to this hate, companies monitoring hate became the enemies of Musk, who worries that the perception of hate on Twitter, rather than the observable hate on the platform, is the problem. He’s suing them to silence them.
So much for being a “free speech absolutist,” right? Turns out Elon Musk may have just wanted to free the hate speech on the platform. Now with multiple studies supporting that notion, as well as a few alarming antisemitic tweets, videos, images, and hashtags trending and making their way onto users feeds, the one question every interviewer needs to be asking executives at companies still advertising on Twitter is if they believe Twitter espouses hate speech, why are they funding it?
One interviewer did this with Tim Cook recently, but fell short of pressing him on the matter.
Tim Cook’s Half-Baked Response
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Tim Cook discussed everything from Ted Lasso (apparently great to watch on the Vision Pro) to Apple’s renewable energy initiatives. Briefly, the subject of Apple’s advertising on Twitter (X*) came up. Many organizations dedicated to tracking hate speech online, which often translates to real-world violence and legislation, have called out Twitter’s relaxation of rules around anti-transgender hate speech, as well as seemingly lax moderation of rule-breaking content. The ADL has expressed alarm from the seeming rise of antisemitic hate on the platform. Some pointed out that hate speech found on the platform remains on the platform, even after reported. Twitter may have lost nearly 60% of their revenue to this hate. However, some brands have stood by their partnership with Twitter. Apple is one of them.
“It’s something that we ask ourselves. Generally, my view is Twitter’s an important property. I like the concept that it’s there for discourse and there as a town square. There’s also some things about it I don’t like!”
– Tim Cook in his interview with CBS News
To his credit, John Dickerson pressed Tim Cook on the matter further, pointing out that, “There’s discourse, and then there’s antisemitism.” Tim Cook responded saying that antisemitism is “abhorrent” and “Just point blank, there is no place for it.” However, it seems there is a place for it: Twitter. Accounts may get suspended or locked, but users will spread the hate that has been posted, much of which Twitter doesn’t remove either because their policies ask users to delete their own hate speech, or because they no longer define anti-trans hate speech as impermissible.
Tim Cook agreed with the assessment that Apple’s “constantly evaluating” their partnership with Twitter. But when companies are funding a website that hosts antisemitic and Holocaust-denying videos, anti-trans hate speech that may have contributed to bomb threats at a children’s hospitals, and the potential for more violence, “constantly evaluating” isn’t enough. Because, while Apple’s “evaluating” their relationship, they could be funding hate.
* Once again, Elon Musk is pro-deadnaming, so I’ll respect his wishes by referring to the company as “Twitter.”
Sources:
- Matt Binder, Mashable
- Wes Davis, The Verge
- John Dickerson, CBS News Sunday Morning
- John Gruber, Daring Fireball
- Chance Miller, 9to5Mac