On Sunday, new Twitter owner Elon Musk debunks Lebron James’s concerns about the accelerated use of the N-word racial slur on the platform. Musk’s tenure has continued to make headlines as he reshapes one of the largest social media companies in the world.
Philip Lewis is a verified Twitter user that tweeted the original report from the Washington Post about this claim of slur usage increase.
Lewis tweeted, “Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover sparked a surge in the use of the N-word on the social media platform. A social media research group told The Washington Post the use of the slur increased by nearly 500%.”
It is to this viral tweet that NBA Superstar LeBron James responded saying, “I dont know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns twitter. But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech.”
This notion is rampant on the left as they fear Musk’s management of the app will lead society down some scary path.
Musk simply responded to this message with a tweet from his Head of Safety & Integrity at Twitter Yoel Roth who wrote, “Nearly all of these accounts are inauthentic. We’ve taken action to ban the users involved in this trolling campaign — and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone.”
Musk has an agenda in his first days at Twitter and these “bots” are one of his focuses. Twitter is currently going through an overhaul where the public is constantly concerned and questioning its new direction.
Elon also intends to increase the company’s revenue by charging for that blue verification check mark.
The Tesla CEO has also announced his intention to end lifetime bans from the platform, indicating a potential return of Former President Donald Trump.
Through criticism of all of these positions as well as backlash from his “draining the swamp” of the Twitter Board, Musk has stayed measured, responding to the public’s misinterpretations and supporting his views of the new direction of Twitter.