Last Updated on April 26, 2022 5: 25pm
Guwahati: After Elon Musk was said to have cracked the deal to buy Twitter, human rights groups raised concerns about hate speech on the platform.
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The groups were concerned that the number of hate speech on Twitter might see a toll as its takeover by Elon Musk would give the billionaire after the self-described “free speech absolutist” clinched a deal to take the social media platform private.
Elon with the deal being finalized described himself as a free speech absolutist.
He had been critical of Twitter’s policies of moderating content on the platform.
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Musk claimed that the micro-blogging platform needs to be a genuine forum for free speech.
In a statement after securing the deal on Monday, Musk described the free speech as “the bedrock of a functioning democracy.”
However, human rights advocates have said that Twitter is not just another company.
Deborah Brown, a digital rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch told Reuters, “Regardless of who owns Twitter, the company has human rights responsibilities to respect the rights of people around the world who rely on the platform. Changes to its policies, features, and algorithms, big and small, can have disproportionate and sometimes devastating impacts, including offline violence.”
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She said, “Freedom of expression is not an absolute right, which is why Twitter needs to invest in efforts to keep its most vulnerable users safe on the platform.”