Elon Musk rips New York Times article as 'utterly false' for claiming major rise in hate speech

New Twitter owner Elon Musk blasted a New York Times article claiming there is an unprecedented rise in hate speech on his social media platform.

Musk alleged that the piece was "utterly false."

Musk also claimed that "hate speech impressions" have declined in spite of user growth and promised that Twitter's Safety account would publish data on the subject weekly.

"Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom of reach. Negativity should & will get less reach than positivity," he wrote.

The Times reported that a wave of hate speech has inundated the platform since Musk acquired it in October. 

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"Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter’s owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day," the Times reported.

"Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Mr. Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day." 

It also provided data on the rise of antisemitic posts on the platform, claiming, "And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr. Musk acquired the site."

These findings came from the "Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms." The Times touted the data as "the most comprehensive picture to date of how conversations on Twitter have changed since Mr. Musk completed his $44 billion deal for the company in late October."

Citing researchers, the article noted that these "increases were atypically high."

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The report also bashed Musk for reinstating terror and conspiracy accounts. It claimed "Accounts that Twitter used to regularly remove — such as those that identify as part of the Islamic State, which were banned after the U.S. government classified ISIS as a terror group — have come roaring back."

The negative article on Musk’s handling of the platform is the latest in a spate of critical pieces put out by mainstream media since he bought it and started announcing major policy changes, such as reinstating former President Trump’s account, or pledging to grant amnesty to previously banned accounts.

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Recently the Washington Post warned that Musk’s changing of Twitter COVID-19 misinformation policy will cause more deaths, while both Axios and NPR trotted out experts warning of how dangerous Musk’s platform is for users across the globe.

Musk has repeatedly shown he won't take criticism lightly, tweeting out rebuttals and sharp criticism of media outlets and political figures who challenge him.