Boom! Twitter Owner Elon Musk Sets The Record Straight With NBA Star LeBron James Over New Management Over Twitter

Disclaimer:  This article may contain the personal views and opinions of the author.

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has come with a lot of incoming insults, temper tantrums, and threats to leave the platform. 

It’s a good thing Musk knows how to handle criticism and respond appropriately. 

Philip Lewis of The Huffington Post said according to The Washington Post, a social media research group reported that there has been a 500% increase in the use of the N-word on Twitter since the sale. 

“Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover sparked a surge in the use of the N-word on the social media platform. A social media research group told The Washington Post the use of the slur increased by nearly 500%.”

Responding to this information, LeBron James said, “I don’t know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns Twitter. But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech.”

Musk could have responded by correcting James with ‘*couldn’t care less,’ but he responded with some facts for the basketball player. 

Musk said, “Nearly all of these accounts are inauthentic. We’ve taken action to ban the users involved in this trolling campaign — and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone.”

The new owner of Twitter took the opportunity to explain Twitter policies further. 

“Let’s talk for a minute about slurs, hateful conduct, and trolling campaigns. Bottom line up front: Twitter’s policies haven’t changed. 

Hateful conduct has no place here. And we’re taking steps to put a stop to an organized effort to make people think we have.”

Musk went on to say, “Over the last 48 hours, we’ve seen a small number of accounts post a ton of Tweets that include slurs and other derogatory terms. To give you a sense of scale: More than 50,000 Tweets repeatedly using a particular slur came from just 300 accounts.” 

It’s sad that things have to be this way, but Twitter has a policy against hateful conduct. Musk reiterated, “Our Rules prohibit Hateful Conduct. This includes targeting people with dehumanizing content and slurs. This DOESN’T mean we have a list of words that are always banned. Context matters. For example, our policies are written to protect reclaimed speech.”

How does one define ‘reclaimed speech’? One source cites it as “taking back control by targets of words used to attack them.” 

Social media platforms have to balance Americans’ right to free speech with monitoring hateful conduct. 

Up until Musk’s takeover, anything The Left didn’t like could be labeled as dangerous or hateful. 

Many free speech absolutists are hoping that Elon’s takeover is a win for free speech and that it’ll enable people to get the truth out on important issues. 

Twitter users and all social media users should remember though that just because you can say something, doesn’t always mean you should.