Twitter Blue could increase antisemitism and hate speech on the platform even further. Graphic by Jake Wasserman via Twitter Blog

Engagement Editor Jake Wasserman March 31, 2023

The future of Twitter is uncertain. In the first months of Elon Musk’s tenure running the social media platform, hate speech and antisemitism have skyrocketed. The company recently announced that it will charge $8 per month for verification beginning April 1 under the Twitter Blue program, rendering the blue check marks that once conveyed authority and prevented impersonation on the site virtually meaningless. 

Whatever reason Musk has, his leadership of the platform has coincided with a flood of once-banned white supremacists and antisemites returning to the platform. Musk’s position as a “free speech absolutist” has also resulted in a gutted Trust and Safety team at Twitter, and paradoxically, a fee to access their previously free API.

As the Forward’s engagement editor, I’ve been closely tracking these changes, and the impact they have on the online space that has hosted Jewish life and conversation for more than a decade. As we’ve shared with our staff, much about the program remains unclear.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

To get a sense of how these changes may affect the safety of Jews who use the platform, I spoke to Daniel Kelley at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Technology and Society on Thursday.

“There’s a disconnect between the written policies of Twitter, or the edicts of Elon Musk, and how that’s being enforced in practice,” Kelley said. Despite Twitter’s vice president of Trust and Safety’s reassurance in January that threats or incitement to violence based on individual or group identities will not be tolerated on the platform, Kelley’s team found that tweets that match exactly that description often stay online long after they’re reported.

The ADL is a “trusted flagger” on Twitter, which means that content they report to the Trust and Safety team gets prioritized. But with the skeleton crew that’s steering the ship, much of the antisemitism that the ADL reports recently hasn’t gone anywhere — on average, according to an ADL blog post, only 28% of the posts that the Center for Technology and Society flagged to Twitter as antisemitic were removed.

But it’s not just content moderation that poses a risk to Jewish safety on Twitter. It’s also the fundamental change to what it means to be “verified” on the platform.

Last fall, when Twitter rolled out its first iteration of the Twitter Blue program, users found that by purchasing an account for $8, they could impersonate almost anyone or anything. One user impersonated the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, stating that “We are excited to announce that insulin is free now.” Another impersonated AIPAC, tweeting, “We ♥️ apartheid.”

The company claimed to fix the problems with identity verification, but even afterward, a Washington Post columnist was able to make a blue checkmarked account for U.S. Senator Ed Markey.

It’s this identity impersonation that gives Kelley the most pause about how the reformed program will impact antisemitism on Twitter.

“I can imagine people impersonating major public figures engaging in egregious antisemitism as a means of smearing them,” he said. He worries about a manufactured Kanye West moment, referencing the tirade of attacks the hip-hop superstar went on against Jewish people last fall.

Kelley is also concerned about antisemitic users utilizing Twitter Blue as a way to algorithmically boost their accounts and whitewash their antisemitism.

As media companies, Jewish organizations and other users adapt to a new normal on the platform they’ve called home, it’s discomforting to hear from an expert that “We don’t know whether or not they have done the work necessary to make this feature safe.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount