When Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 and rebranded it as X, he promised a freer, more transparent digital public square. But two years on, new research suggests that the platform’s “freedom” has come at a cost, with hate speech and engagement-bait content both appearing to rise sharply.
Hate Speech Has Spiked — and It’s Getting More Attention
According to a peer-reviewed study published in PLOS One, the weekly rate of hate speech posts on X is now about 50 percent higher than it was before Musk’s acquisition. The researchers tracked millions of posts containing racist, homophobic, and transphobic slurs, finding that not only have these messages become more common, but they’re also drawing significantly more engagement.
In fact, posts containing hate speech now receive about 70 percent more likes on average than they did before the takeover. Transphobic slurs alone jumped from roughly 115 mentions per week before Musk’s tenure to more than 400 afterward.
That means hateful content isn’t just more widespread, it’s more visible, more shared, and more rewarded by the platform’s engagement-driven algorithms.
Engagement Bait: The New Currency of X
Beyond explicit hate, users have noticed another trend: the explosion of “engagement-bait” posts. These are the posts designed purely to provoke replies, shares, or outrage, often with divisive or emotionally charged phrasing.
While academic data on this specific phenomenon is still sparse, anecdotal reports are everywhere. One viral Reddit thread summed it up bluntly:
“In the last 1000 posts (I’m not exaggerating), EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM is engagement bait.”
The pattern is familiar: inflammatory posts about social or political issues rack up replies and quote-tweets, which in turn boosts their reach. Under a system where engagement drives visibility, outrage has become a kind of currency.
Correlation, Not Causation — But the Trend Is Clear
Researchers are careful to note that the rise in hate speech can’t be pinned solely on Musk’s policy changes. X has restricted API access and data transparency, making long-term analysis difficult. Still, the timing of the spike closely aligns with Musk’s takeover and his overhaul of moderation policies, including deep staff cuts to the trust-and-safety team and the reinstatement of previously banned accounts.
Even if the cause isn’t perfectly clear, the outcome is: hate speech is more frequent and more engaging than before.
Why It Matters
For many users, particularly those from marginalized groups, the rise in hate and harassment has made X feel less safe. Researchers warn that this shift risks driving away the very voices that make social media valuable: diverse perspectives and open dialogue.
Meanwhile, the growing prominence of engagement bait reflects a deeper problem in social media design. When algorithms reward outrage, misinformation, and hate with visibility, the result is an environment where the loudest, not the most thoughtful, voices dominate.
The Bottom Line
Since Elon Musk took over, hate speech on X has risen sharply, and engagement with such content has grown even faster. The data paints a picture of a platform increasingly optimized for provocation rather than conversation.
Freedom of speech may have expanded, but so has the freedom to hate, and the incentives to exploit that hate for clicks.
