Twitter, which for a few days has changed its logo (no longer the blue bird but a white x on a black background), has threatened to sue a group of independent researchers whose research has documented an increase in hate speech on the social network since the social was bought last year by Elon Musk.
An attorney representing social media wrote to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) on July 20, threatening to take legal action regarding their research into hate speech and content moderation.
The letter said CCDH’s research publications appear set to “harm Twitter’s business by driving advertisers off the platform with incendiary claims.”
The CCDH is a non-profit organization with offices in the US and UK that regularly posts reports of hate speech, extremism or harmful behavior on social media platforms such as X, TikTok or Facebook. The NGO has released several reports critical of Musk’s leadership, describing a rise in anti-LGBTQ hate speech and climate disinformation following his purchase. X’s attorney’s letter cites a specific report from June that the platform failed to remove neo-Nazi and anti-LGBTQ content from verified users that violated the platform’s rules.