Still, researchers say they cannot draw firm conclusions about a cause-effect relationship between Musk’s purchase of X and their findings

A new study by the University of California, Berkeley found that hate speech rose by 50 per cent in the months after billionaire Elon Musk purchased X, formerly Twitter. View on euronews

A new analysis suggests that the rate of hate speech on X was about 50% higher for several months after Elon Musk purchased the social media platform than in prior months, and the amount of bot and bot-like accounts did not decline.

Hate speech on X was consistently 50% higher for at least eight months after tech billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media platform, new research has found. The research looked at the prevalence of overt hate speech including a wide range of racist, homophobic and transphobic slurs.

A new analysis suggests that the rate of hate speech on X was about 50 percent higher for several months after Elon Musk purchased the social media platform than in prior months, and the amount of bot and bot-like accounts did not decline.

The number of posts containing slurs doubled and the number of bot accounts also increased, new research by a California team suggests.

"We can't stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate filled, ignorant bile," the Friends star wrote, "but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk."

The number of toxic messages rose by 50% in the months following the purchase of the social media platform, now named X, and they also received 70% more likes

Hate speech on X dramatically increased during the several months that Elon Musk served as CEO when compared to the prior months, according to a new study.

These factors can undermine safe and democratic online environments, and increase the risk of offline harms,' study claims