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Twitter is threatening legal action against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that researches hate speech and content moderation on social media platforms.

The letter from Twitter's lawyers alleges that CCDH's research publications are intended to 'harm Twitter's business by driving advertisers away from the platform with incendiary claims.'

This is a pretty bold move from Twitter, especially considering that CCDH is a well-respected organization that has been doing this kind of research for years. And it's especially ironic coming from Elon Musk, who has said that he's a 'free speech absolutist.'

But Musk has also shown that he's sensitive to criticism, so it's not surprising that he's taking this kind of action against CCDH

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[-] ME5SENGER_24@lemmy.world 149 points 1 year ago

Please, please do that. I can’t wait to see the discovery portion of the trial

[-] badbrainstorm@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago
[-] Kraiden@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago

I was just going to say, wouldn't they have to disprove the findings to win?

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[-] Red_October@lemmy.world 125 points 1 year ago

Elon used to love saying he was a Free Speech Absolutist, but once again that only extends to speech he likes.

[-] enteroninternet@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

He likes any speech as long as it makes him money.

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 25 points 1 year ago

It's our fault honestly. We kept hearing "free speech" but he's been saying "fee speech" this whole time!

[-] Encode1307@lemm.ee 112 points 1 year ago
[-] crapwittyname@lemm.ee 106 points 1 year ago

I love it. The gist is:

  • hate speech is running rampant on your platform.
  • you're doing nothing to stop it.
  • here's our evidence.
  • where's your e idence?
  • why are you spending time and money on fighting us instead of on fighting the literal white supremacist death threats on your platform?
  • telling us we've not sampled enough tweets while you're in the process of making impossible the mass sampling of tweets is...a bit rich.
  • we're not intimidated by your threats
  • your threats are also bullshit
  • we're not gonna stop

It's a textbook example of "no u" in grown up language. Bravo.

[-] Mrs_deWinter@feddit.de 62 points 1 year ago

Not to mention how it starts with

"We write in response to the ridiculous letter you sent our clients on behalf of X Corp."

They are not taking any BS. I love it.

[-] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 year ago

Legal snark is by far the most expensive brand of humor, but when it's deployed on your behalf it's so goddamn satisfying.

During a hearing in my divorce, I answered a question from the judge, the other lawyer says "we can't have hearsay in this discussion", my lawyer responds "well this will be a short hearing then because everything in your client's motion is hearsay".

That little snap cost me about $15 but it was worth it.

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[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 82 points 1 year ago

The best part of it:

If your clients do file suit, please be advised that CCDH intends to seek immediate discovery regarding hate speech and misinformation on the Twitter platform; Twitter’s policies and practices relating to these issues; and Twitter’s advertising revenue. In that event, a court will determine for itself the truth of the statements in our client’s report in accordance with the time-tested rules of civil procedure and evidence.

Now that is a nuclear statement in a lawyers letter...

[-] Dima@lemmy.one 48 points 1 year ago

I love that this is a legal letter and yet contains the very direct phrase:

That threat is bogus and you know it.

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[-] Wander@yiffit.net 66 points 1 year ago

It's a shame that people are still using that platform.

[-] Silverseren@kbin.social 31 points 1 year ago

I really think all the artists still on there are shooting themselves in the foot in the long run.

And that obviously has already started with the direct messaging restrictions that messes with contacting commissioners.

[-] klyde@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

If they leave Twitter, where are they going to go? Artists need to promote themselves. They sure aren't coming here to promote themselves. Twitter has always been where people go to keep up with their favorite artists whether it be art, music, comedy, etc. If they leave then they're shooting themselves in the foot. Twitter is still massively popular even if you don't agree. Same goes for Reddit.

People who have made a living promoting themselves on Twitter aren't going to leave it just because Musk is a dumbass. Most artists as you mention typical have business emails in their profiles. Until Musk does something to fuck with their income, they're staying.

It's the same shit when people on Reddit say they're abandoning COD this year because the devs pissed them off only for the game to have the highest sales ever. You, me, Lemmy users, and Reddit haters are just a fraction of the people who use those sites.

[-] wanderingmagus@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

Mastodon? Pixiv? Deviantart? Artstation?

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[-] iegod@lemm.ee 51 points 1 year ago

Evidence based documentation is going to be hard to win against, unless the plan is just drag them through legal proceedings until they can't afford it. The american dream.

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[-] Supermariofan67@programming.dev 50 points 1 year ago

For a company that claims to be desperate to cut costs they sure do have a lot of money for frivolous lawsuits...

[-] madjo@geddit.social 45 points 1 year ago

Does Stinky believe that by suing these researchers, the rise in hate speech didn't happen?!

[-] sunbytes@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

No, but he can scare off anyone else from making him look bad.

It's expensive and scary to get hit with a lawsuit like this.

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[-] aranym@lemmy.name 16 points 1 year ago

Just donated to the CCDH, they definitely don't have the resources to fight Twitter alone.

Given that Twitter trust and safety was almost completely gutted upon his acquisition, I think it's very improbable that type of content was moderated effectively.

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[-] rodneyck@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago

The man-child billionaire says he is not for censorship, while using the judicial system to censor.

[-] kilorat@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago

This is a great example of a SLAPP suit

[-] MisterMoo@kbin.social 32 points 1 year ago

We don’t need to call it X or even the platform formerly known as Twitter. It’s just Twitter.

[-] EliasChao@lemmy.one 11 points 1 year ago

I mean their site is twitter[.]com

[-] Vlixz@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

They haven't changed the url yet? Wonder when they'll do it..... Probably gonna break a lot of stuff everywhere.

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 27 points 1 year ago

Sue everyone you don't like. That's the thin-skinned, narcissistic billionaire way.

Doesn't matter if they're right or wrong, pile up the costs and they'll all cave in.

[-] thorbot@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

I think Elon's rebranding from "twitter" to "X, The Social Media Platform Formerly Known As Twitter" was really smart. You know what, I am gonna go XTSMPFKAST-eet that right now! Obviously the branding was the weakest part of the product he bought!

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[-] blue_zephyr@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago
[-] Phanatik@kbin.social 22 points 1 year ago

Free speech abolitionist

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[-] Smoogs@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Wasn’t he all about free speech and even against censorship?

“ I think if you go down the censorship route, it’s only a matter of time before censorship is turned upon you.” -musk

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[-] MSids@lemmy.sdf.org 23 points 1 year ago

If they go to court, wouldn't the court make them prove that the claim was false or defamation? And if CCDH can prove that it's not false or defamation then now it's legal record that hate speech has increased since the takeover? This all seems ok with me.

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[-] DeepThought42@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Musk should sue himself then. Seems like he has done the most to drive away advertisers.

[-] woshang@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Driving ur attention to here:

X is a free public service funded largely by advertisers. 

X aware that the CCDH gained access to X’s data without Brandwatch’s authorization,

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[-] tenitchyfingers@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

“Free speech for me, not for thee”. God, I’m THIS close to deleting my account there and just migrating back to Tumblr and bluesky. There are just too many users I love that haven’t moved anywhere else yet.

[-] gressen@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

Try Mastodon. Remember to follow hashtags.

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[-] dinckelman@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Free speech, but until something goes wrong. Then it's totalitarian government

[-] Cobrachickenwing@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago

He is the forefront of apartheid theory and sees anyone not espousing it a threat to his existence.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 11 points 1 year ago

"How dare you use well researched facts to state obvious facts that I don't like to hear about!" - karen musk

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this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
1425 points (100.0% liked)

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