Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the platform has changed in many ways. A recent report from the technology publication Rest of World revealed that Twitter has since fully complied with more than 80% of government and court requests to remove or modify content. This is in stark contrast to the roughly 50% it complied with before Musk took over.
Rising numbers and worrying trends
The report is based on data from the Lumen database, which is maintained by Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. This data shows that of the 971 government requests received since Musk took office six months ago, Twitter has fully complied with 808 and partially complied with 154. Only nine requests remained unanswered. This marks a significant increase compared to the six months before the takeover, when only 280 of 550 requests were fully responded to.
Origin of the requests
Most of these requests come from foreign governments such as India, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Germany. These countries have tightened their internet regulations in recent years. It is striking that none of these requests came from the United States.
A clear contradiction
When Elon Musk took over Twitter, he said he would promote free speech and reduce the platform’s political bias. But the reality seems to be different. For example, in January, tweets about a BBC documentary criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were deleted at the request of the Indian Ministry of Information. Several accounts that tracked the private jets of billionaires were also blocked.
Controversies and criticism
These developments raise questions that are being discussed controversially by the public and experts. Critics argue that Musk has not kept his promises and that Twitter is now more censored than before. In addition, the company has only responded to press inquiries with an automatic poop emoji, which further calls into question the transparency and seriousness of the platform.
A look into the future
The increasing number of government requests and the high compliance rate under Musk’s leadership cast a worrying light on the future of the platform. It remains to be seen how Twitter will evolve and whether Musk will finally deliver on his promises to promote free speech.
At a time when freedom of expression is under pressure around the world, it is crucial that platforms like Twitter live up to their responsibilities and do not become pawns of political interests. However, developments in recent months raise doubts as to whether this is possible under the current leadership.
