Limp attempts to clean up Twitter simply don’t cut it

Twitter’s limp attempts to reduce hate speech and clean up the site, including the latest prompts for users to revise vile tweets, are years too late and don’t go far enough, writes Kylie Lang.

The week after I got off Twitter, in what’s been my best decision of 2021, the antisocial media platform rolled out a half-cocked plan to reduce the hate and vitriol that spews forth on it like projectile vomit.

Early in May, Twitter installed prompts designed to stop users posting vile replies.

Not only is the move 15 years too late but it is hopelessly inadequate.

Twitter claims the prompts, sent when an algorithm detects “potentially harmful or offensive language”, will “keep Twitter a place for meaningful conversations”. Ha!

Not only has it never, in my opinion, been a place for meaningful conversations - the most common length of a tweet is 33 characters – but people are still permitted to tear others apart, and they do.

Twitter’s own figures, from a trial it did a year ago, show that only 34 per cent of users trying to post insults or hateful remarks chose to amend or delete their replies.

The majority went ahead.

Twitter’s attempt to clean up the site has failed, says columnist Kylie Lang. Picture: Olivier DOULIERY / AFP)

That’s two-thirds of users who really don’t give a hoot about who they might hurt.

Narcissism rules, cloaked in the guise of free speech.

Even those who appear hardened to criticism can be negatively affected by Twitter and the trolls who hide there.

Peter V’landys, chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, is a polarising figure. He makes tough calls and people aren’t always going to like them. That’s what an ambitious leader who wants to implement change has to accept.

But even V’landys this week admitted social media, and Twitter in particular, was a rogue beast.

While addressing high tackles and the risk of concussion in the game, he was mercilessly trolled.

“I don’t mind people having views but some of the abuse I have copped … it’s not for the faint-hearted,” he said.

“We are all human and I am not superman. I have emotions and feelings like everyone else. And you think it doesn’t hurt you but it does.

“I don’t know why people spew out hate. Is this where we have come to in this world?”

If Twitter is the barometer then the answer to that is yes.

Peter V’Landys says the abuse he cops on Twitter is not for the faint-hearted. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Research comparing Twitter and Facebook users, conducted by Canadian and British university scholars and published on ResearchGate, has found big differences in levels of narcissism and nastiness.

Drawing on several studies, the researchers concluded “narcissism was more strongly associated with the various motives for using Twitter” and “people with Machiavellian traits were more likely to use Twitter than Facebook”.

Twitter users were also far more “open”, which in context could be described as oversharing and pontificating about anything and everything.

The good news is that Australians aren’t as fond of Twitter as people in other parts of the world.

Latest figures from marketing analyst Genroe show the most popular social media site for 16-64 year olds here is Youtube, closely followed by Facebook and Instagram, with Twitter a long way down in fourth position and just ahead of LinkedIn.

As Genroe notes, “Twitter does not have the same influence in Australia as it does in other geographies”.

Other analysts suggest we’ve reached saturation point with social media – that there are only so many hours in a day and we can’t or won’t let life be dominated by being online.

But others say the number of platforms will only continue to grow, and people who don’t use social media will die off and be replaced by people who do.

Some say the number of platforms will only continue to grow.

One thing they agree on is that only those platforms that innovate, change and find better ways to support and uplift their audiences will survive.

Twitter should be worried.

Limp attempts to clean up the site, including these latest prompts to revise nasty replies, simply don’t cut it.

If Twitter can permanently suspend loose cannons like Donald Trump – as it did in January “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after the deadly riots on Capitol Hill – then it shouldn’t stop there.

Get rid of the toxic grubs who take delight in ripping other people apart and users might start to return. As it stands, I’m done.

Kylie Lang is associate editor of The Courier-Mail