On Thursday, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office announced that it had quit using Twitter owing to a flood of “vicious” homophobic remarks that the social media site did not take down even after complaints.
On Twitter, the account with the username @LADAOffice is no longer active.
The office stated that “the choice to archive our Twitter account was not easy.” “It followed a string of upsetting remarks over time, culminating in a shocking response to photos we posted honoring LADA’s first known participation in a Pride parade,” the author writes.
It said that following its post about the Pride march, “a barrage of vicious and offensive comments left us deeply troubled.”
According to the office, the remarks varied from “homophobic and transphobic slurs to sexually explicit and graphic images,” they were still accessible in replies to the account more than 24 hours after they were reported to Twitter.
Linda Yaccarino, the newly appointed CEO of Twitter, did not reply to a message requesting comment. Multiple advocacy organizations claim that since Elon Musk took over the company last fall, attacks on LGBTQ+ customers have significantly increased.
For example, the Center for Countering Digital Hate recently identified 1.7 million tweets and retweets since the beginning of 2022 that mention the LGBTQ+ community via a keyword such as “LGBT,” “gay,” “homosexual,” or “trans,” along with slurs such as “groomer,” “predator,” and “pedophile.”
In 2022, in the months before Musk took over, there were an average of 3,011 tweets daily. In the four months following his appointment last October, that increased by 119% to 6,596.
There are not enough content moderators to handle the influx of problematic tweets, varying from hate speech to explicit material and harassment.
A large part of the explanation is the massive workforce reduction Musk has implemented since his takeover. The phrase “free-speech absolutist” has also been used by Musk to characterize himself.
For instance, in April, Twitter discreetly eliminated a rule against the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” sparking worries that the site is becoming less secure for vulnerable populations.
Additionally, Musk has frequently communicated with members of the far-right and spread false information to his 143 million followers.
After Musk criticized Twitter’s handling of posts regarding a conservative media outlet’s video that doubts medical treatment for transgender children and teens, Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, resigned last week. Every parent should see this, Musk wrote in a tweet to his followers and the video that has come under fire for being transphobic.
All of the leading medical associations, including the American Medical Association, have opposed restrictions on gender-affirming medical treatment and supported it when it is provided to children and adolescents in an appropriate manner.
In numerous jurisdictions where prohibitions were implemented this year, lawsuits have been filed.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office stated that while it will continue to be active on other popular social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok, it “will not be complicit and utilize a platform that promotes such hateful rhetoric.”
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