August 14th 2023.
Black Twitter is in search of a new home since Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform and subsequent rebrand into X. In an article for The Washington Post, Elizabeth Dwoskin reported that many members of the Black community have been leaving the platform due to Musk's intentions of restoring extremist accounts.
Touré, a writer and cultural critic, told The Post that there was a period of time when he felt like Twitter was too important, but with Musk, "there were purposeful, dumb changes that felt like, 'you're literally shoving me out the door.'"
The hashtags and accounts created by Black Twitter were instrumental in bringing attention to the stories and lives of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, and George Floyd. Wesley Lowery, a journalist who covered the Ferguson uprising for The Post, explained the impact that Black Twitter had on mainstream media coverage. He said that the editor used to make decisions about what to cover based on what was said in his book club or at a dinner party. However, Black Twitter gave the editor different perspectives and it became apparent that these were the perspectives that everyone was talking about.
Under its former owner, Jack Dorsey, Twitter made attempts to protect its Black users, but Musk has largely dismantled these safeguards. He openly mocked shirts with the hashtag #StayWoke that he found in the company's San Francisco headquarters. This has made Twitter a hostile environment for Black users and Meredith Clark, an associate journalism professor at Northwestern University, believes that today it would be impossible for Twitter to be the centre of attention for a similar racial justice movement.
Since leaving Twitter, Black Twitter members have been searching for a replacement platform but have not yet found a suitable home. Apps like Spill, Bluesky, Fanbase, and Somewhere Good have appeared but each one has its own distinct focus and medium of connection. As a result, Black Twitter users have become digital nomads. Andre Brock, a media studies professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, describes Black Twitter as a “digital diaspora” looking for a new home, but thus far unable to find a place to set down roots.
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