"We try to minimise the distribution and reach of harmful or misleading information, especially when its intent is to disrupt a civic process or cause offline harm." "We work hard to minimise toxic and illegal content," the company said on its website. Twitter - which has faced criticism for not doing enough to stop ethnic slurs, hate speech and incitement to violence in Ethiopia where there has been fighting since 2020 - did not respond to a request for comment. United Nations investigators said Facebook played a key role in spreading hate speech that fuelled violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar in 2017, which refugees said included mass killings and rape by soldiers. Read | Musk's Twitter free speech promise may be tested in Middle East
"We could go down a very dark hole if we go down that path again," he said.
"Incitement to violence against a minority group, like we saw with the Rohingya when the platforms did not take down hate speech and abuse, is a very real danger," Robertson, deputy director for Asia, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. But rolling back such curbs on hate speech would put vulnerable people at risk, said Phil Robertson of advocacy group Human Rights Watch. Musk has called himself a free speech absolutist and criticised Twitter's policy of moderating content. Elon Musk's plan to acquire Twitter has alarmed human rights activists in Asia and the Middle East, where social media platforms have been accused of inciting violence.