Sul Ross State University Students’ Opinion on Elon Musk’s New Twitter
By Brooke Manuel, Skyline Editor
ALPINE - Since Elon Musk’s formal acquisition of Twitter on Oct. 27, 2022, hate speech directed toward African Americans and the LGBTQ community, and antisemitic posts skyrocketed. A majority of Sul Ross State University students said in a recent poll that this will not affect their use of the platform.
Since Musk’s Twitter takeover, the daily average number of Tweets containing hate speech directed toward African Americans rose from 1,282 to 3,876, according to a report released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
The Skyline staff conducted an informal poll among SRSU students of diverse sex and race at the Alpine and Rio Grande campuses.
Of the 53 students that were included in the poll, four said that they do not have a Twitter account.
When asked whether they believe that social media should be moderated, the number of students who support moderation was marginally higher than the number of students who do not.
43.4% of the students said that social media should be moderated, 39.6% said that it should not be moderated, 15.1% did not provide a clear answer and 1.9% did not answer.
“Social media should be moderated because while everyone is allowed to express their political opinions, hate speech is not a political opinion,” said SRSU student Karen Garcia. “Free speech does not equal free of consequence.”
69.4% of the 49 students that do have Twitter accounts said that regardless of the rise in hate speech on the platform, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter would not affect their use of the platform yet.
Students were also asked if they use Twitter to stay up to date on the news. Of the students who do have Twitter accounts, 59.2% said that they do not use Twitter to stay up to date on the news and 30.6% said that they do.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate also reported significant rises in hate speech directed towards the LGBTQ community and a rise in derogatory Tweets directed towards women.
The number of antisemitic Tweets rose 61.3% in the two weeks after Musk’s takeover, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Charts Created by Brooke Manuel, Skyline Editor