The Los Angeles county district attorney’s office made the decision to deactivate its Twitter account due to an ongoing stream of “vicious” homophobic attacks that were not being addressed by the social media platform, even after reporting them. The account, @LADAOffice, no longer exists on Twitter.
In a statement, the office expressed that archiving their Twitter account was a difficult choice, but it came as a result of distressing comments over time, culminating in an alarming response to photos they shared celebrating their participation in a Pride parade. The office stated that the post received a barrage of offensive and vicious comments that deeply disturbed them.
The comments ranged from homophobia and transphobia to explicit and graphic content. Despite reporting these comments to Twitter, they remained visible in replies to the account for more than 24 hours.
Twitter, under the new leadership of CEO Linda Yaccarino, did not respond to requests for comment. LGBTQ+ users have experienced a significant increase in attacks since Elon Musk took over Twitter last fall, according to multiple advocacy groups.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate recently identified 1.7 million tweets and retweets mentioning the LGBTQ+ community with slurs included, such as “groomer,” “predator,” and “pedophile.” Prior to Musk’s takeover, there were an average of 3,011 such tweets per day in 2022. This number jumped by 119% to 6,596 in the four months following Musk’s leadership.
A major factor contributing to this issue is the significant staffing cuts implemented by Musk, leaving an insufficient number of content moderators to handle the overwhelming amount of problematic tweets, including hate speech and graphic content. Musk has described himself as a proponent of free speech, believing that Twitter’s previous policies were overly restrictive.
Twitter quietly removed its policy against the targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals in April, raising concerns about the platform’s safety for marginalized groups. Musk has also engaged with far-right figures and shared misinformation with his 143 million followers.
Recently, Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, resigned after Musk criticized the platform’s handling of tweets related to a documentary questioning medical treatment for transgender children and teens. Musk endorsed the video, which has been deemed transphobic, urging all parents to watch it.
Major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, have opposed bans on gender-affirming care and supported appropriate medical care for transgender youth. Lawsuits have been filed in several states where such bans have been enacted this year.
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office will remain active on other mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok. However, they will not utilize Twitter, as they consider it complicit in promoting hateful rhetoric.
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