The consequences of “The Bird is Free”: A computational analysis of aversive LGBTQIA+ tweets and engagement trends before and after Elon Musk dismantled the platform’s moderation system

IF 4.3 1区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

New Media & Society Pub Date : 2025-07-22 DOI:10.1177/14614448251356240

Gyo Hyun Koo, Josephine Lukito, Gina M Masullo, Christian Staal Bruun Overgaard, Bek Orr

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This research uses Twitter discourse about LGBTQIA+ people as a case study to investigate how changes in social media platform management and policies affect conversations about marginalized communities in digital spaces. We examine Twitter discourse before and after Elon Musk’s acquisition and the immediate dismantling of content moderation efforts to identify changes in aversiveness in conversations about LGBTQIA+ people and users’ engagement with such content. Time-series intervention analyses of 6 months of Twitter data ( n = 323,440) show that tweets with toxicity, insults, and threats increased in the 3 months after Musk’s takeover, although the differences were small. The volatility of aversive content also grew over time. Post-Musk, tweets with severe toxicity and insults received more engagement than before. This research provides insight into Twitter as one representation of the shared reality of today’s cultural moment, with implications for minoritized groups and the free flow of information on social media platforms.

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“The Bird is Free”的后果：对埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）拆除该平台的审核系统前后厌恶LGBTQIA+推文和参与趋势的计算分析

本研究以Twitter上关于LGBTQIA+人群的讨论为例，探讨社交媒体平台管理和政策的变化如何影响数字空间中边缘化社区的对话。我们研究了埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）收购Twitter之前和之后的言论，以及立即取消内容审核的努力，以确定关于LGBTQIA+人群和用户参与此类内容的对话中厌恶程度的变化。对Twitter 6个月的数据（n = 323440）进行的时间序列干预分析显示，在马斯克接管后的3个月里，带有恶意、侮辱和威胁的推文有所增加，尽管差异很小。厌恶内容的波动性也随着时间的推移而增长。在马斯克之后，带有严重毒性和侮辱的推文比以前得到了更多的关注。这项研究提供了对Twitter作为当今文化时刻共享现实的一种代表的见解，对少数群体和社交媒体平台上信息的自由流动具有影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

New Media & Society COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

12.70

自引率

8.00%

发文量

274

期刊介绍： New Media & Society engages in critical discussions of the key issues arising from the scale and speed of new media development, drawing on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and on both theoretical and empirical research. The journal includes contributions on: -the individual and the social, the cultural and the political dimensions of new media -the global and local dimensions of the relationship between media and social change -contemporary as well as historical developments -the implications and impacts of, as well as the determinants and obstacles to, media change the relationship between theory, policy and practice.