Twitter was a once highly-regarded platform, with the social media now known as X had researchers staying away to study what it brings to the world for fears of getting a lawsuit from its owner, Elon Musk. While it is true that Musk handed off the day-to-day responsibilities of managing X as its CEO, he still has a massive say in it as he owns the social media platform, now a private entity.
As a private company, X has done what the owners and executives think is the best for the company, centering on adding subscriptions to its premium features, even its high API fees for access.
Researchers are No Longer Studying X, Fearing Musk's Lawsuit
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A report by Reuters has detailed that in a recent survey, requested by the Coalition for Independent Technology Research last September, many academics and researchers have claimed they are no longer studying X. some have canceled their studies about the platform, with one of the reasons centering on the fear of facing a lawsuit from Mr. X himself.
It is known that X is under heavy scrutiny from regulatory agencies because of the misinformation and fake news circulating on the platform, with researchers steering clear of the platform.
This centers on various topics including hate speech, child safety, and tracking the "spread of false information during real-time events, such as Hamas' attack on Israel and the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza."
Read Also: Climate Misinformation on Social Media: Elon Musk's X Lags Behind-Why?
High API Fees on X Also a Reason for Fewer Studies
It was also regarded by the researchers that among the reasons for stopping their studies on X is the significant API fees which are now higher after its last update in February. Initially, the X/Twitter API was free to access, but the company made it pay preventing many developers from discontinuing the supplementary apps, but also affected the researchers using the data found on the API.
Elon Musk's X: Misinformation and Scrutinies
In the most recent times, Musk and X were met with massive alerts from officials and regulatory agencies about the massive misinformation content on social media, centering on the current Israel-Hamas conflict.
Many have called out Musk for what he did to Twitter, and that does not only center on the name change but also the way people may get a verified checkmark by paying for X Premium, with some notorious for their content. In the first year of Musk's acquisition of the platform, it saw a massive decline in both web and mobile, with many disapproving of what happened and leaving altogether.
Musk is best known for championing "free speech" on the platform and allowing users to speak their minds freely, as well as granting amnesty for the previously banned accounts and having them return here. One of the latest moves of X is to enforce its "crisis response" and demonetize misinformation posts, but still, it is a platform that researchers are avoiding because of fears and the restrictive high API fees.
Related Article: Elon Musk: X Posts With Misinformation Are Now 'Ineligible for Revenue Share'
