Civil Rights Leaders Rebuke Elon Musk for Spike in Twitter Hate Speech, Demand Meeting

NEW YORK and BALTIMORE (November 2, 2022) – Leaders of three of the nation’s top civil rights organizations today chided new Twitter owner Elon Musk for the “painful and shocking” increase in hate speech since Musk took the helm of the platform, and demanded a meeting to address their concerns.

National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, and National Action Network President and Founder Rev. Al Sharpton, said in a letter to Musk that he “might have unwittingly freed people to unleash the worst of human nature with communities of color and religious minorities bearing the greatest burden.”

In the days after Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder and declared “the bird is freed,” the platform saw nearly a 500% spike in the use of the racial epithet “N**ger.”  The leaders noted that online hate speech, misinformation, disinformation, and the reckless sowing of political and social chaos have consequences for democracy, civil rights, and public safety.

“Whether you realize it or not, as the new leader of Twitter, you have new responsibilities, and one of those responsibilities is to ensure your platform is not used to harm people and the nation as a whole,” the leaders wrote. “Another responsibility is to ensure your own words and behavior do not cause harm, especially to the communities of color and other underserved communities who have been long time users and who have made the company what it is today.”

The leaders offered to work with Musk to develop an affirmative strategy to ensure the platform is not used to further the ends of those who intentionally or recklessly promote violence, including strong content moderation standards that foster a safe and healthy online environment.
“We are also interested in your plans to employ a workforce and contract with suppliers that reflect the diversity of the nation at all levels of leadership and across all functions at Twitter,” they wrote.

The full letter is available here.