digital public square

Exactly one month after Elon Musk announced his acquisition of Twitter with a lame pun borrowed from Tumblr and Reddit, footage of the Christchurch mosque massacres resurfaced on the platform. It was yet another example of how Twitter backslid into chaos and hate under Musk. It also reopened wounds that I and other Muslims endured because Twitter and other platforms allowed this hate to spread in the first place. That is why I met the news that Twitter abruptly dissolved the Trust and Safety Council with a mix of sadness and relief.

Muslim Advocates was a member of the council, a non-binding advisory board for policy review and recommendations from worldwide experts. This mostly meant we got previews of much-hyped new features from Twitter that tinkered around the edges of the broader problem of online hate. Fundamentally, the council was a space of corporate pseudo-accountability. They offered us “access” and we were supposed to be content with our seat at the illusory table.