If You’re Black and Choosing To Stay on Twitter…
A few tips from a long-time Twitter user.
I am not a cybersecurity expert. I am not a social media developer. I haven’t learned to code. In fact, I am barely computer literate.
However, I’ve had a Twitter account for seven years and became active on the site a little less than five years ago. I have a small-ish platform there and I have come to value the relationships I’ve developed there.
Thing is, Elon Musk just took over the place. And, since the sale went through, every racist/misogynist/transphobic/anti-Semitic/ableist/Christian nationalist/Nazi-sympathizing mouth-breather with a smartphone is showing their whole ass, shouting the phrase “free speech” all the while. As you may well know, use of the N-word skyrocketed since the sale went through and, although no one has come into my timeline has called me that (yet), the number of bots leaving “spoiling for a fight” replies to my tweets has increased exponentially.
Still, I don’t plan to leave — at least not right away. And if you don’t plan to leave soon (or ever), here’s what you can do to keep the “free speech absolutists” out of your subtweets:
- Download the Bot Sentinel app from botsentinel.com and start vetting any new followers. Block all the suspicious accounts — even those that “say things I agree with.” Bad actors will often use the same account to impersonate multiple people and use those false identities to stir up chaos on multiple user timelines. There’s no…
