VOL 120, Issue 8 - November 3rd, 2022

02
THURSDAY
NOV. 3,
2022
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SAN FRANCISCO
FOGHORN
Freedom and Fairness
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STAFF EDITORIAL
WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN
TO TWITTER?
GRAPHIC BY MORGAN LEE/GRAPHICS CENTER
It's official: Tesla tycoon Elon Musk has
closed the deal to purchase Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk’s acquisition marks a turning point
in billionaire spending, departing from the
norm of the wealthiest using their companies to
make large purchases. Think Mark Zuckerberg
who bought Instagram via Meta, and Jeff Bezos
who bought Whole Foods with Amazon.
Under Musk’s buyout, one man now holds
the reins of a platform used by 240 million
people. This raises a multitude of questions in
regard to Twitter’s future, an important one being,
will Musk allow hate speech and misinformation
under the guise of free speech?
Since their inception, social media platforms
like Twitter have been subject to the circulation
of misinformation due to algorithms
that manipulate users into only seeing like
minded accounts. While for certain hobbies
this might not be a problem, it can be dangerous
when users look to social media as a primary
source for news coverage and forming opinions
on controversial topics. Twitter specifically has
been under fire for its algorithm promoting misinformation.
A 2018 study found that fake news
reaches more people than factual information
does on Twitter.
“When people in positions of power and the
public start to echo extremist rhetoric, it's even
more likely that we're going to see real-world
consequences,” said former Rutgers University
institute of politics Director John Farmer.
San Francisco witnessed these consequences
this past week with the brutal attack of House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 82 year-old husband
Paul Pelosi. On Friday at 2 a.m., David DePape
broke into their home and attacked Pelosi with
a hammer. Now in custody, authorities have
revealed that DePape has a long internet history
with QAnon, an internet conspiracy theory
phenomenon associated with anti-semitic statements
and paranoia over perceived anti-white
racism.
Studies across the world have concluded
that a strong link exists between online speech
and acts of violence targeted towards marginalized
people. In the last decade, numerous tragedies
like the 2015 Charleston church shooting,
the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, and
the 2019 Poway synagogue shooting have unfolded
testifying to the power of misinformation.
In a statement, Musk assured users that
Twitter will not transform into a “free-for-all
hellscape, where anything can be said with no
consequences.” But, as we have seen, violent
rhetoric never remains within the echo chambers
of our digital world.
Since Musk’s buy out of Twitter, racist
trolls have taken to the app to test the limits of
free speech. As reported by the Princeton-based
Network Contagion Research Institute the use
of the N-word increased by 500% in the 12
hour period following Musk’s acquisition. In
response, NBA player Lebron James tweeted, “I
hope he [Musk] and his people take this very
seriously because this is scary
AF. So many damn unfit
people saying hate speech is
free speech.”
This year, Twitter began
testing out the experimental
program “Birdwatch”
where a small, select group
of users can fact check tweets
and provide context notes to
Tweets which may not directly
violate Twitter community
guidelines but do
present false information.
Who knows if this program
will become more accessible,
or even survive under Musk’s
leadership.
As we watch and wait to
see what will happen to one
of the world’s main sources
for news, we wonder what
the future of news sharing
will look like on Twitter.
Given Musk’s record as a
“free speech absolutist,” we
hope that he will protect the
platform from becoming a
den for racism and white supremacy.
CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE
Iran has seen waves of protests and uprisings
against the Islamic regime for accusations of state violence
over the past two decades. The Iranian Green
Movement of 2009 began as a series of non-violent
protests in major cities against the election of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to the presidency and accusations
of a rigged election. In 2011, there were protests
curtailing the Arab Spring, a series of pro-democracy
uprisings across the Middle Eastern region protesting
human rights abuses and systemic oppression. In 2019,
“Bloody November” began as protests against rises in
fuel prices.
Internationally, people have expressed their solidarity
with Iran and support for the Iranian peoples’
struggle for liberation through domestic protests, and
social media campaigns intended to spread awareness.
Doreen, a second-year international studies student,
and board member of the Iranian Student Union
(ISU), said the ISU has attended protests as an organization.
Since Amini’s death, the ISU has gone to protests
in Berkeley, as well as the human chain protest at
the Golden Gate Bridge. They encourage digital forms
of protest too, “any pictures, any videos that you see
on your Instagram, you should do everything in your
power to really spread that information,” said Doreen.
Media censorship in Iran has been pervasive the
past few years, with the government shutting off all access
to the internet during the 2019 protests. Doreen
said a purpose of their advocacy is to combat the stifling
of information, and to amplify voices on social
media that may otherwise be suppressed and censored
by the Iranian government.
A third-year biology student, and member of the
ISU, whose name has been removed for anonymity
and safety, said that “it’s very easy when you’re apart
from your community, which is on the other side of
the world, to feel like maybe things are dying down.”
Protesting and spreading information via social media
has been their way of showing solidarity with Iranian
citizens.
“I feel this guilt of [being] worried about exams
while I have distant relatives who are worried about
the cost of living, their rights, their ability to speak up
against the government,” they said. “It’s difficult to find
balance.”
Despite the tragedies that have come from the
protests, many find the movement hopeful and distinct
from prior ones, due to its magnitude. Doreen said that
“it’s about all of the injustices that are happening because
of the Islamic Regime” and that Amini’s death
was the tipping point for many. “It started off as protests,
but is now more of a revolution against the Islamic
Republic as a whole.”
Professor Nora Fisher-Onar, associate professor
and director of the masters in international studies, said
that this movement should be an example for other societies
battling oppressive forces.
“When you see, in the context of decades of repression,
ordinary people willing to risk everything in
the pursuit of honor and dignity, it’s really quite moving,”
said Onar. “It should be a wake up call to people
in Italy, and Sweden, and France, and the United States.
It’s not just confined to the Middle East.”
Chair of the international studies department,
John Zarobell, said that the kind of oppression Iranians
are facing now isn’t too different from oppression
in the United States. “It really in that way doesn’t matter
that their government is portrayed to be completely
different than ours,” he said. “What we see is a power
being abused, the police are not acting responsibly, and
I think it’s really great students have come together and
said we want to promote this as a shared struggle.”
Protests against the Iranian government erupt in downtown San Francisco. PHOTO COURTESY OF USF
IRANIAN STUDENT UNION
Mahsa Amini is remembered around the globe. PHOTO COURTESY OF USF IRANIAN STUDENT UNION
03
NEWS