With Elon Musk Soon To Be At The Helm Of Twitter,Will #BlackTwitter Cease To Exist?

Twitter logo displayed on a phone screen and Elon Musk’s Twitter profile displayed on a screen are … [+] seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on April 14, 2022. (Photo illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

NurPhoto via Getty Images

When news was released that Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s $44 billion offer to buy Twitter, social media users immediately expressed their outrage and concerns. One of the largest groups to speak out was #BlackTwitter. While some users their thoughts and concerns about Musk taking over Twitter in a more light-hearted matter, others expressed more serious angst over the future of #BlackTwitter.

On Monday, Twitter announced that it recently accepted a $44 billion offer from Elon Musk that it could not refuse. After the announcement, Twitter immediately erupted, and speculation spread across the platform, with users sharing various hypotheses about how the platform would change. Some shared that the multi-billionaire buying Twitter could even lead to the death of #BlackTwitter. In fact, The Los Angeles Times released an article about this being the “beginning of the end of #BlackTwitter.

To be clear, the concern that many have voiced about Musk taking over the helm of Twitter is not necessarily that Black Twitter users will forgo use of the social media platform. Instead, a small segment of the platform that has so powerfully served as a safe space for so many #BlackTwitter users — a place that has birthed trends, led monumental movements, and provided community — will cease to exist. The reach and impact of #BlackTwitter measures far beyond #BlackTwitter users. The Los Angeles Times recently wrote, “the community of millions that figured out how to turn a nascent social media platform into an indispensable tool for real-world activism, political power, and change.”

More specifically, ingenious memes and GIFs that are warmly familiar to Black people but also transcend racial and ethnic barriers. The Los Angeles Times article also adeptly points out how #BlackTwitter turned hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatters, #OscarsSoWhite, #ICantBrethe, and #MeToo into movements that forever changed how we see our country. Not to mention the celebration and appreciation of the Black experience in America that #BlackTwitter has been instrumental in leading. #BlackTwitter helped to create a much-needed counter-narrative to existing racist and anti-Black stereotyped tropes that exist in and are perpetuated by mediated images of the Black experience through exploitative characters such as Medea and other roles that perpetuate harmful tropes in film and television. Hashtags such as #BlackBoyJoy and #BlackGirlMagic were vital in this shift and in celebrating the beauty and uniqueness of Blackness.

But these concerns are not without merit. Musk is a multi-billionaire who has a long history of receiving side eyes for questionable ethical decision-making in his business dealings. In fact, Elon Musk is the current founder of a company that the state of California is suing for allegedly silencing thousands of Black employees who complained about racism. His company Tesla is being sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing in the largest racial discrimination suit ever brought by the state and was filed on behalf of more than 4,000 Black former and current employees. Former employees of Tesla have shared experiences of being the target of racial slurs by co-workers and supervisors.

Some former employees of the company also allege that Tesla segregated Black workers, gave them the hardest work at the Fremont, California manufacturing plant, and denied them promotions. Former employees also alleged that the company ignored their complaints about the treatment. Yet, as The Los Angeles Times article points out, Musk is buying a company that has given millions of Black people a mega stage to their experiences and concerns about racism. Imagine that. But perhaps, the same could be said about Twitter, as the tech company has also experienced its fair share of allegations of racism and diversity issues. Not to mentation the rampant racism that lurks throughout the platform — some of which I have experienced first-hand as a Black user of the platform.

Musk’s financial and social status represents a long and treacherous lineage of uber-wealthy White men who have full power and control over how everyday people communicate and what communications look like in America, which brings us to the second issue. Many have voiced concern over — content moderation. Musk has gone on record expressing his displeasure with the content moderation on Twitter — although limited — and some are concerned if given complete control, he might do away with content moderation altogether. This would allow White supremacists who have gotten removed from Twitter to return to the platform to continue spewing racial and ethnic hatred. Some even include former President Donald Trump on that list. Along with this possibility also comes the chance of divisive and misinformed conspiracy theories to be easily spread, such as those perpetuated about the effects of COVID-19 vaccines and Q’Anon, including the latest tall tales linking gender identity to pedophilia that reckless Republican politicians are echoing.

Although well informed, many of the reasons for concerns are centered around speculation, and we could very well not see many — if any — changes to Twitter when all is said and done. But many Twitter users and skeptics are willing to bet money that we will see massive changes to the platform and that they will not be positive for people from marginalized groups and Black people in particular. That said, the shift is most certainly unnerving. Especially considering that Twitter will now be a privately held tech company that will not be obligated to protect the platform from the risk of rampant racism, transphobia, homophobia, or misogyny.