“Repeated, targeted harassment”: Twitter CEO Elon Musk Declares “Cisgender” a Slur
Elon Musk had a dramatic takeover of social media platform, Twitter last year and since then he has attempted to position the platform as a “free speech” haven. But the billionaire has a history of sharing anti-transgender content on the platform. Billionaire Elon Musk has made multiple controversial remarks on gender identity concerns and promoted transphobic content since Twitter’s acquisition last April.
Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover: A Timeline Of Events
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is now the official owner of American social media company Twitter, Inc. after his $44 billion was completed. Musk first initiated the process to buy Twitter back in April 2022 and since then it has been a bumpy journey for Musk and Twitter.
At the beginning of April last year, Elon Musk announced that he now owned 9.2% of Twitter, making him the largest shareholder of the social media company. Soon after he asked people about having an edit button added to the platform. As soon as Musk became a shareholder of the company, Twitter confirmed working on the same feature. But then Musk decided not to join Twitter’s board of directors.
By mid-April 2022, Musk offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, which amounts to $54.20 per share in cash. Twitter’s valuation at that time was $37 billion. Then followed a letter saying Twitter would need to be transformed as a private company or Musk would leave. After attempts to block Musk’s takeover, Twitter announced its agreement to Musk’s $44 billion bid but that was not the end of the story.
Musk threatened to walk away from the $44 billion deal if his spam bot demands aren’t met. After terminating the deal, in response, Twitter confirmed it was suing Musk. But then Musk once again agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion, averting a trial that was set for October 2022.
Elon Musk Says Terms Like ‘cisgender’ and ‘cis’ Are Now Considered Slurs On Twitter
Elon Musk’s controversial remarks on gender identity and related topics are not something new. The Twitter CEO said last Tuesday that the words cis and cisgender are now considered as slurs under the social media platform’s latest ad-hoc content policy change implemented by the billionaire.
He declared the two words as slurs in his tweet and also issued a warning saying that targeted harassment would have consequences. Musk’s comment was a response to a Twitter user’s claim of harassment after tweeting they reject the word “cis” and don’t wish to be referred to as such.
Twitter’s hateful conduct policy page has no explicit list of words considered slurs by the platform but it notifies the prohibition of “targeting others with repeated slurs…that intends to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category.”
Musk’s tweet read, “Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions. The words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform.” Though Musk has labeled the words cis and cisgender as slurs, the terms are defined in most major dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary, which added it in 2015.
Source: Twitter
