John,

By now, you may have heard that Elon Musk owns Twitter. He’s already fired
Twitter’s entire senior staff, including key content moderation
decision-makers, and is quickly concentrating power.^1 It’s no surprise
that, after Musk’s Twitter takeover was finalized, hate speech on the
platform skyrocketed, including a 500% spike in the use of the n-word.^2 

Over the weekend, Musk spread vile falsehoods about the vicious attack on
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband — tweeting a baseless conspiracy
theory rooted in anti-LGBTQ hate.^3 He’s also asked his team to review a
section of Twitter’s hateful conduct policy that specifically protects the
platform’s transgender users.^4 To top it all off, we already know that
Musk has publicly supported restoring the account of former President
Donald Trump, among others; Musk could bring back people who have been
banned from Twitter for spreading hate, inciting violence, and pushing
misinformation.^5 

At a time when the internet is increasingly being weaponized to attack
Black people and destroy our social and political rights, Musk’s takeover
of Twitter threatens our safety in both the virtual and physical worlds.
That’s why Color Of Change is calling on our members to help us fight back
against the unaccountable tech billionaires who refuse to prioritize our
safety. 

We’re a week away from one of the most consequential midterm elections in
recent memory. No one knows what decisions Musk and his lackeys will make
that could unleash mis- and disinformation, handing political power to
dangerous, far-right demagogues.

You can show solidarity with Black people online by rushing a one-time
emergency donation that sustains our work ahead. Your contribution can
help create a virtual world that’s safe for everyone. Join us now.

[ [link removed] ]Rush your donation today!

Musk’s ownership of Twitter will not only affect Black creators; it will
incentivize unscrupulous users and far-right hate-mongers to spew
dangerous falsehoods and outright lies. If a political figure refuses to
pay Musk to keep their verified status, that politician is at risk of
having their identity co-opted and used to spread false information,
hastening a crisis of democracy. This is a distinct possibility, now that
Musk has fired several members of the policy team and plans to hand all
major content decisions to a small, hand-picked “moderation council,”
whose membership he refuses to reveal.^6

Color Of Change has fought these big companies before. Members like you
supported our campaign to get then-President Trump permanently kicked off
Twitter, and we won. When Facebook refused to make public the findings of
their Racial Equity Audit in response to our Stop Hate for Profit
campaign, we pushed them to release the findings and establish a new
internal civil rights department. We’ve changed things at big tech
companies, and we won’t stop now.

A man like Musk – who routinely spreads dangerous misinformation, engages
in union-busting activities, and runs companies that are constantly sued
for racist and misogynistic practices – is almost certain to undo all the
work we’ve done to make Twitter safer and more inclusive for its Black
users (and honestly, what is Twitter without Black Twitter?).^7,8,9 Musk’s
actions in the past week have shown he’s willing to remove key guardrails,
and it will only get worse. 

[ [link removed] ]But we’re still fighting, John. We’re going up against one
of the wealthiest people in the world, and we need your help to win. Can
you pitch in a few dollars to help fight Musk’s Twitter takeover?

 

Until justice is real,

– Color of Change's Tech Accountability Team

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 References

 1. Ryan Hogg, “ Elon Musk fired Twitter execs including CEO Parag Agrawal
'for cause' in a bid to avoid paying out tens of millions in
severance, report says,” Business Insider, October 30, 2022,
[link removed]
 2. Shaun Harper, “Hate Speech Rises On Twitter After Elon Musk Takes
Over, Researchers Find,” Forbes, October 31, 2022,
[link removed]
 3. Elizabeth Dwoskin and Faiz Siddiqui, “Elon Musk deleted a tweet about
Paul Pelosi. Here’s why that matters,” Washington Post, October 30,
2022,
[link removed]
 4. Kurt Wagner, Edward Ludlow, Jackie Davalos, and Davey Alba, “Twitter
Limits Content-Enforcement Work as US Election Looms,” Bloomberg,
October 31, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 5. Kari Paul and Alex Hern, “Twitter braces for Donald Trump’s return as
Elon Musk takes over platform,” The Guardian, October 28, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 6. Guardian staff, “Elon Musk declares Twitter ‘moderation council’ – as
some push the platform’s limits,” The Guardian, October 28, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 7. Elizabeth Dwoskin and Faiz Siddiqui, “Elon Musk deleted a tweet about
Paul Pelosi. Here’s why that matters,” Washington Post, October 30,
2022,
[link removed]
 8. Lora Kolodny, “Tesla ordered to have Elon Musk delete anti-union
tweet.” NBC News, March 25, 2021,
[link removed]
 9. Hyunjoo Jin, “Tesla hit by new lawsuit alleging racial abuse against
Black workers,” Reuters, July 1, 2022,
[link removed]

 



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