Los Angeles County DA's Office Quits Twitter Due To 'Vicious' Anti-LGBTQ Attacks

The Los Angeles county district lawyer’s workplace mentioned Thursday it has left Twitter attributable to barrage of “vicious” homophobic assaults that weren't eliminated by the social media platform even after they have been reported.

The account, which glided by the deal with @LADAOffice, not exists on Twitter.

“Our resolution to archive our Twitter account was not a straightforward one,” the workplace mentioned in an announcement. “It got here after a sequence of distressing feedback over time, culminating in a surprising response to pictures we posted celebrating LADA’s first recognized entry right into a Satisfaction parade.”

It mentioned its Satisfaction parade submit was met with “a barrage of vicious and offensive feedback that left us deeply troubled.”

The feedback ranged from “homophobic and transphobic slurs to sexually specific and graphic photographs,” the workplace mentioned, including that they remained seen in replies to the account greater than 24 hours after they have been reported to Twitter.

Twitter, whose new CEO, Linda Yaccarino began on Monday, didn't reply to a message for remark. Assaults on LGBTQ+ customers have elevated considerably since Elon Musk took over the corporate final fall, based on a number of advocacy teams.

A sign at Twitter headquarters is shown in San Francisco on Nov. 18, 2022.
An indication at Twitter headquarters is proven in San Francisco on Nov. 18, 2022.
AP Photograph/Jeff Chiu

The Heart for Countering Digital Hate, for example, lately recognized 1.7 million tweets and retweets because the begin of 2022 that point out the LGBTQ+ group through a key phrase akin to “LGBT,” “homosexual,” “gay” or “trans” alongside slurs together with “groomer,” “predator” and “pedophile.” In 2022, within the months earlier than Musk took over, there have been a median of three,011 such tweets per day. That jumped 119% to six,596 within the 4 months after his takeover final October.

A giant a part of the explanation is the drastic staffing cuts Musk has enacted since his takeover — there are merely not sufficient content material moderators to deal with the flood of problematic tweets that vary from hate speech to graphic materials and harassment. Musk has additionally described himself as a “free-speech absolutist” who believes Twitter’s earlier insurance policies have been too limiting.

In April, for example, Twitter quietly eliminated a coverage in opposition to the “focused misgendering or deadnaming of transgender people,” elevating issues that the platform is changing into much less secure for marginalized teams. Musk has additionally repeatedly engaged with far-right figures and pushed misinformation to his 143 million followers.

Final week, Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of belief and security, resigned after Musk criticized Twitter’s dealing with of tweets a few conservative media firm’s documentary that questions medical therapy for transgender kids and youths. Musk tweeted the video, which has been criticized as transphobic, to his followers with the message, “Each father or mother ought to watch this.”

Each main medical group, together with the American Medical Affiliation, has opposed bans on gender-affirming care and supported the medical take care of youth when administered appropriately. Lawsuits have been filed in a number of states the place bans have been enacted this 12 months.

The Los Angeles district lawyer’s workplace mentioned Thursday it's going to stay lively on different mainstream social media websites akin to Fb, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok however mentioned, referring to Twitter, that it “won't be complicit and make the most of a platform that promotes such hateful rhetoric.”

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