Thread by @marcowenjones

1/ Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, a surge in hate speech has been reported. I can't speak to this, but an #antisemitic hashtag "The Noticing" suddenly picked up, although this was probably more to do with @kanyewest's reinstatment on Twitter

2/ The hashtag 'The Noticing' is being used to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes, often posted as memes. Below you can find some examples. I counted around 36000 tweets from a 3 week period (26 - October - 16 Nov).

3/ The acceleration of the hashtag coincided with @kanyewest's re-appearance on Twitter on 28th October after weeks of being suspended for antisemitism. For context, Musk entered Twitter with the sink on 26th October. As you can see, the trend picked up on 28th

4/ Tweets like below also highlight that after the Musk-sink moment and pre-Kanye reinstatement, accounts were talking about Kanye's antisemitism prompting 'the noticing'. This makes sense given Kanye's remarks

5/ While some celebrated Musk's tenure as a boon for *free (hate) speech*, many ppl were reporting the antisemitism to Elon Musk - which is also why Musk's account was mentioned a lot.

6/ @elonmusk denied having anything to do with @kanyewest's reinstatement, saying the decision happened before he completed the takeover.

7/ Here are some of the most influential accounts sharing antisemitic content on the hashtag (see image on left). One of them, @KekIntelPro, who appears to be sharing Russian-aligned propaganda, also brags about getting 'paid for' verification!

8) So some takeaways. A new antisemitic hashtag is currently getting a lot of engagement on Twitter, including from accounts who are using paid for verification. Remember, the purpose of this paid-for verification is to prioritise their comments (in this case antisemitism)

9) Also, the hashtag is probably less to do with @elonmusk taking over, and more to do with the reappearance of @kanyewest on Twitter in the wake of antisemitic remarks. Having said that, Musk's libertarian stance probably encouraged the trend.