Did the Musk Takeover Boost Contentious Actors on Twitter?

TL;DR

This study investigates whether Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter led to increased influence of contentious political actors by analyzing tweet engagement before and after the takeover, finding a significant rise in activity unrelated to verification status.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the impact of Musk's Twitter policies on contentious account activity and engagement, highlighting a rise in user activity post-acquisition.

Findings

Post-acquisition engagement increased significantly.

Verification status did not significantly affect engagement.

Rise in activity attributed to a more sympathetic user base.

Abstract

Twitter has been accused of a liberal bias in its account verification and content moderation policies. Elon Musk pledged, after his acquisition of the company, to promote free speech on the platform by overhauling verification and moderation policies. These events sparked fears of a rise in influence of contentious actors -- notably from the political right. In this article, I use a publicly released list of 138k Twitter accounts that purchased blue check verification during the open window of November 9-November 11, 2022. I retrieve 4.9m tweets from a sample of politically contentious accounts. I then compare engagement on contentious user posts before and after the Musk acquisition. I find that the period following the Musk acquisition saw a substantive increase in post engagement. There is no additional increase following blue tick verification. I explain the findings with reference to an increase in activity by a newly sympathetic user base.