Like many others, I was pleased when Elon Musk bought Twitter and even more pleased when he started making meaningful changes by ousting the leftists that had infested that company and started steering things more towards free speech. I have been using Twitter for years (I created my account in 2008) but was about 99 percent read-only. I used it primarily as a news source and very rarely posted anything. That began to change after Musk took over because I felt like I would be better able to express myself without being censored. So, I started to post more and also started interacting more with other users. Then something happened.
I was checking up on my X news feed last evening when I came across a post by another user that was expressing feelings about Nikki Haley’s chances in the up-coming Republican primary in South Carolina. I decided to reply to that post with the following: “Stick a fork in her. She’s done.”
Not five minutes after I posted that reply a message popped up on my X screen informing me that my account had been locked. I also received an email at the same time that stated the following: “Your account has been locked for violating the Twitter rules (I thought it was “X” now!). Specifically for violating our rules against violent speech. You may not threaten, incite, glorify, or express a desire for harm or violence.”
Well, blow me down. I guess I’m inciting violence on X now because I used an old saying that’s been around forever and really has nothing at all to do with violence. Adding to this hilarious accusation, the popup message on my Twitter screen informed me that “After careful consideration, your account has been locked…” It then went on to explain to me that many of the features of the platform would be unavailable to me for about 11 hours and then, presumably, my full account access would be restored. At the same time, another message informed me that it might take up to a week for my account to be fully functional again and in some cases, it might take longer. Thanks for the clarification!
It’s quite clear to me that the decision to lock my account temporarily was not made by a human being. Trust me, nobody at X HQ is following my little low-follower account. The action that was taken to determine that I posted something that included “violent speech” and then locked my account was done automatically by an algorithm or some kind of AI functionality. And if it was AI-enabled, it is a pretty stupid and limited version of AI if it does not recognize an old saying like that, which does not have anything at all to do with violence. It is clearly related more too cooking than violence but perhaps that is considered violence towards chickens, cows, pigs or other animals we use for food. I would actually consider that as a possibility on the old woke Twitter.
It is interesting to note that one of Musk’s other companies called Neuralink was bragging yesterday about how they implanted a computer chip of some kind into someone’s brain and it enabled them to control a computer mouse just by thinking about it. Pretty amazing, right? Well, in light of that amazing development, I cannot help but wonder why the algorithm or AI that monitors X for “violent speech” is so brain-dead. You can implant a functioning computer chip in a human being’s brain but your systems controlling X cannot recognize a harmless saying that has been in use for decades if not a lot longer than that?
I realize this is a relatively minor thing and I am happy to report that either an X employee or the algorithm/AI restored my account to full access pretty early this morning. I did send a rather snarky email to the X team after my account was locked last evening but I am not sure anyone even read it before my account was restored. It is highly likely that it was just some kind of timer an algorithm enabled to restrict my account that ran its course and then turned things back on.
I’m not the only one that has been noticing that things are not running as they should be at X these days. I have been seeing complaints about the return of censorship on the platform as well as many users reporting that their reach has been limited and accounts “throttled.” Those kinds of complaints have come from some very large and prominent accounts.
I suspect there are still some remnants of the old woke Twitter operating behind the scenes. Perhaps some employees remained after Musk’s takeover that are still secretly loyal to the previous ownership and are quietly operating under the radar to interfere with voices that do not align with the leftist narrative. Or perhaps there are still some sections of code buried deep in the Twitter system that are still active and censoring conservative voices in a more subtle way compared to how it was done in the past.
I suppose I have to assume that X is still a work in progress and that Musk still has things to do in order to completely divorce it from its former woke ways. I am impressed with the progress that has been made so far and can only hope that more is done to make X a truly free speech platform because it is looking like it is not quite there yet.