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Basic Rights Oregon, the Portland-based LGBTQ2SIA+ advocacy group, says it’s done with Twitter because billionaire owner Elon Musk lets vulgar insults to transgender and queer people stand on the platform.
The organization permanently deactivated its Twitter account on Friday.
“We don’t take this decision lightly,” Basic Rights Oregon said in a statement. “Our work at BRO relies upon our ability to connect with LGBTQ2SIA+ Oregonians across the state, and social media is a vital tool for this in 2023. But we’ve gotten to the point where we simply cannot square our values and mission with continuing to operate an account on Twitter.”
Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October and promptly fired many of its leaders. Advertising has suffered since the purchase as companies shy away from a controversial new owner who has, among other things: tweeted that “pronouns suck”; questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines; tweeted sexist jokes; and posted a picture of Bill Gates captioned “in case you need to lose a boner fast.”
Musk savaged transgender people in a flurry of tweets last month, saying he would begin “actively lobbying to criminalize” some health care for transgender minors. He also agreed with Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist popular in right-wing circles, who retweeted Musk, saying: “Prison. Long term. Without parole. No mercy. And maybe for the compliant ‘therapists’ as well as the butchers they enable.”
“Absolutely,” Musk replied June 2.
“Over the last year, we’ve watched Twitter go from inhospitable to blatantly hostile to our community, and particularly trans folks,” Basic Rights Oregon said. “Tweets promoting equality for trans and queer people are met with floods of ugly responses. These aren’t people respectfully disagreeing with political stances. We’re seeing vulgar images, dehumanizing language, accusations of child abuse, and threats to physical safety. All of this is fueled by a Twitter owner who not only doesn’t care to moderate the platform, but seems to enjoy fanning the flames for his own ego.”
Basic Rights Oregon isn’t alone. Advertisers are abandoning the site in droves, The New York Times reported last month. U.S. ad revenue from April 1 to the first week of May totaled $88 million, down 59% from the same period a year earlier, according to an internal presentation obtained by the Times. The company has often come up short of its sales projections, sometimes by 30%, the document obtained by the Times said.
Adding to Musk’s woes: Meta, the owner of Facebook, launched a Twitter-like service Wednesday called Threads that’s linked to its popular Instagram service. The new service signed up 70 million users on its first day, according to CNBC.com. New users can use their Instagram accounts to join Threads and keep any followers who also migrate to Threads alongside them.
