Musk Trolls Civil Rights Activists With 'Stay Woke' T-Shirts

After purchasing Twitter, Musk has been criticized for reinstating controversial accounts, like that of former US President Donald Trump. Activists even formed a “Stop Toxic Twitter Coalition” that has exercised pressure on advertisers who continue to work with Twitter.

Elon Musk posted a video with a “secret closet” in Twitter headquarters filled up with “stay woke” t-shirts – the Social Justice Warrior slogan that appeared during the BLM movement.

In the video, someone is heard laughing, while Musk notes that the "closet" is "full of hashtag woke t-shirts."

Musk has been under fire ever since he bought Twitter. The British Centre for Countering Digital Hate reported that racist and anti-Semitic slurs soared significantly after Musk became the owner of the social media platform. For instance, the usage of one specific racist term increased 77%, compared to the average for 2022.

Another problem has been the Twitter verification fiasco. In early November Twitter introduced blue subscriptions for $8. Previously, the blue check mark was reserved for verified accounts of politicians and other public figures. Musk decided to roll out a subscription option for anyone ready to pay $8. As a result, fake and troll accounts mushroomed and this option was taken away. Recently, he stated that Twitter won`t bring back this option until he's confident "that significant impersonations won`t happen."

Despite this controversies, Musk claims that user numbers remain at an all-time high. For the last week, according to billionaire's tweet, the site had added 1.6M daily active users.

However, experts have warned Musk to pay attention to another figure – the number of signups on alternative platforms. For instance, Twitter's closest competitor Hive Social has reported more than one million sign-ups in the last 30 days.

Another annoyance for Musk has been the 'Stop Toxic Twitter coalition' weighing in. The group emerged after Elon Musk reinstated Donald Trump's account. The billionaire carried out a public poll and the majority voted for unblocking Donald Trump. After Trump's account was reinstated, the coalition obtained a list of 100 top advertisers (by total spending this year) and urged them to cease cooperation with Twitter. Around 90% of Twitter revenue comes from advertising. Several brands, including Volkswagen, Audi and Balenciaga have already cut their ties with Twitter.