Rising tensions on X since Musk takeover: how easy it is to become political enemies?

Political abuse is what makes X stand out, a new study shows, and it has gotten worse since Elon Musk’s takeover.

Social media platforms are becoming a digital town square where everyone claims their right to an opinion. Tensions rise instantly when political questions are broached, with X at the epicenter. So much so that political abuse has become a defining feature of the platform.

A study by a joint research team from City St George's, University of London; the University of Venice; Central European University; Technical University of Munich; Sapienza University of Rome; and Alan Turing Institute suggests that despite their political views (left or right), X users engage equally in abusing their political opponents.

Individuals who stray from their party's norms are swiftly treated as political enemies on X. Based on the data from nine countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and the USA – the confrontation in the tweets followed a common ally-enemy structure.

Researchers analyzed data from 375 million tweets collected over a 24-hour period in September 2022. They mapped these users' posts to a separate sample of more than 1,800 politicians with active X accounts.

By tracking which users retweeted which politicians, researchers were able to estimate users' political leanings and categorize them as either left or right.

They also assessed the toxicity of political posts to measure political abuse on X. The study found that posts mentioning political opponents were consistently more toxic than those mentioning political allies. Political interactions were more toxic than non-political ones across all countries included in the data.

“Many of these trends may have worsened: Since Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, and the restrictions on data introduced, we no longer have access to the high-quality data required to study these issues,” said lead author of the study Dr. Max Falkenberg, currently at the Department of Network & Data Science, Central European University.

“This lack of transparency is democratically problematic and of significant concern if we are to improve the quality of political communication online,” he added.

“Our research reveals a key appeal of large platforms like X/Twitter: the chance to engage in aggressive exchanges with political opponents – unlike smaller platforms that simply allow conversations among like-minded users,” commented Andrea Baronchelli, Professor at City St George’s, University of London.

“This work confirms that the trend spans across countries, suggesting a society where the ‘other’ is viewed only as an opponent, and listening is reserved for allies. Recognizing the implications for democratic life, our team will continue to study its broader impacts.”

The peer-reviewed article was published in Nature Communications on November 14th.