Trump’s return was the turning place, right?
Since Elon Musk took over the social media platform, which was once rife with academic activity, Twitter, then known as X, has seen much less of the professoriate.
Importantly, the biggest fall in academic proposal came in mid-November 2022 when Musk reinstated the consideration of Donald Trump, “deactivated following the Jan. 6 rebellion” according to Inside Higher Ed.
The study” The Vibes Are Off: Did Elon Musk Push Academics Off Twitter”? looked into “more than 15, 700 educational records from the fields of economics, political science, sociology, and mindset” and discovered that after Musk’s order, verified accounts in those subjects had reduced wedding and throw out fewer tweets.
Pre-Musk Twitter had a” important role in the process of cultural medical research,” according to research writers James Bisbee of Vanderbilt and Kevin Munger of the European Institute University.
But Trump’s return, along with that of others previously suspended, and alleged “relaxed rules around spreading misinformation ]… ] may have been the tipping point for many academics”.
According to PsyPost,” The key lesson is that Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter coincided with a considerable decline in academic proposal on the system, particularly among more renowned scientists with confirmed accounts.”
Of note, but, the Bisbee/Munger research suffers from a “lack of strong facts about the reasons why academics disengaged” from Twitter, as well as its reliance on the platform’s” Application Programming Interface”, which was nixed after Musk assumed control.
MORE: TikTok and Instagram turned me into a leftist. Here’s how X ( Twitter ) helped me escape.
IHE notes the study “reflects what some academics” had said at the time — that they’d leave Twitter as a “protest” and move to another platform.
The College Fix , reported on some of those reactions. For example, Missouri State University’s Brian Ott wrote in the , New York Times , that Trump’s return to Twitter/X would lead to more “degrading and dehumanizing discourse”, “misinformation and disinformation”, and possibly even violence.
If Musk took over Twitter, Goucher College’s David Zurawik said,” We are headed to hell,” he said to a CNN panel. We ca n’t think anymore in this country”.
Zurawik added the U. S. should “look to” Western Europe for how to regulate the platform.
UC Berkeley’s Robert Reich, a former Clinton administration official, said Musk’s view of a more open Twitter was “dangerous rubbish” and was” the dream of every dictator, strongman, demagogue and modern-day robber baron on Earth”.
Kara Alaimo of Hofstra University claimed Musk allowing “harmful forms” of speech would lead to the” silencing” of many users.
A freer Twitter, according to NYU’s Elizabeth Spiers,” could affect minorities more negatively than” white men like Mr. Musk.”
The University of Queensland’s Katharine Gelber said Musk’s claim that he was buying Twitter for more free speech was” just a fallacy]… ] it’s just wrong”.
And Vanderbilt law professor Rebecca Allensworth claimed Musk has “idiosyncratic views” about free expression, and called his Twitter purchase” troubling”.
MORE: Edgewood College leaves Twitter as a result of more “misinformation” and “negative speech” being spread.
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