Misinformation and Twitter: Let That Sink In.

Two years ago, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, acquired the social media platform Twitter in its entirety. Musk and his supporters previously criticized Twitter for limiting free speech. In 2020, Twitter saw widespread misinformation on social, political, and pandemic topics, along with calls to violence. Multiple accounts, including then-President Donald J. The suspension is now in effect. Trump and his supporters. Jack Dorsey, Twitter's founder, was leading the company at that time. In 2017, there were rumors that the Walt Disney Company wanted to buy Twitter, but Disney ended up purchasing 20th Century Fox instead.

Even as late as early 2022, there was talk of Dorsey stepping down from Twitter. Although there were unstable periods, Twitter fostered respectful discourse during parts of 2021 and early 2022. However, this period did not last long. For reasons I am unable to share, Elon Musk acquired the whole company along with its codebase. Despite renaming the platform to X and revising its "free speech" policies, individuals still refer to it as Twitter.

Currently, Twitter is no longer just a source of misinformation and emotional outbursts; it has also become a testing ground for artificial intelligence, driven by Musk’s team and their Grok software as part of a broader competition with Sam Altman’s OpenAI and platforms like ChatGPT. The concept of absolute free speech is not practical or in public forums: if speech were truly unrestricted, negative, and harmful expressions would dominate, which is clearly problematic. A significant issue with misinformation on Twitter is that it often originates from users, particularly those who are anonymous or not known outside of the platform. While it is common to believe that online behavior is without consequences, these actions can impact real-life situations.

In response to these problems, Twitter has introduced new features and innovations over the years. In the past, posts could only be up to 160 characters long, but today, messages and videos can be as lengthy as those on Facebook. What distinguishes Twitter today is its sociopolitical leanings, which have trended more conservative and reactionary, often supporting Donald Trump and his allies—as discussed in my recent post about AI-generated content. Nowadays, Twitter/X is full of user-created AI material, like videos and memes, which I find unremarkable unless they offer something unique.

Personally, I do not use Twitter and have never paid to do so. Over two decades, the platform’s legacy has been a diminishing appreciation for the complexities of language, though there are signs this may be changing. For example, Musk’s well-publicized stunt of bringing an actual sink into Twitter headquarters played on the phrase “let that sink in,” both literally and figuratively.

I have had these views for a while and feel at ease sharing them here. Thank you to everyone who has commented on my recent blog posts—I value our ongoing discussion. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Talk to you soon.

Robert Kelly


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