Musk’s 2024 Transformation of X Reshapes Social Media Landscape

In a digital landscape where social media shapes public discourse, questions about content moderation and platform responsibility continue to intensify. Recent discussions with Inevitable West, a prominent figure on X (formerly Twitter), have highlighted ongoing concerns about religious bias and misinformation on the platform.

When confronted about their controversial religious content, Inevitable West defended their position, stating they would apply the same standards to all religions. Perhaps more troublingly, they confirmed they would never remove their own posts, even when proven false—a stance that raises serious concerns given their global reach and influence.

This revelation comes amid broader questions about X’s content moderation practices, both before and after Elon Musk’s high-profile acquisition. Critics have long accused the platform of bias in its enforcement actions, while others have questioned whether pre-Musk Twitter restricted free expression.

These concerns were explored in depth during a 2023 Panorama investigation, where former Twitter employees expressed significant apprehension about the platform’s ability to protect users. Their primary concerns centered around defending users from coordinated trolling campaigns, state-sponsored disinformation operations, and child sexual exploitation content—issues they directly attributed to the company’s extensive workforce reductions.

When approached for comment during that investigation, X did not respond to the specific allegations. However, Musk later reacted on the platform itself, sarcastically tweeting about the Panorama episode: “Sorry for turning Twitter from nurturing paradise into a place that has… trolls.” He followed this with the casual observation that “trolls are kinda fun,” seemingly dismissing the serious nature of the concerns raised.

Musk has previously defended the sweeping staff reductions, claiming that financial losses left him with “no choice” but to significantly downsize the company’s workforce. These cuts came during a tumultuous period of transition as Twitter transformed into X under his leadership.

Lisa Jennings Young, who served as head of content design at Twitter until departing in 2022, offers a sobering perspective on the current state of the platform and social media broadly. “I feel like we’re all living through a vast social experiment [on humanity],” she notes, emphasizing that this experiment lacks clear parameters or objectives.

What makes the situation particularly concerning, according to Jennings Young, is that “it is not a controlled social science experiment [but one] we’re all a part of.” This unplanned, ungoverned approach to platform management means that no one—not users, not experts, and perhaps not even platform leadership—can predict the ultimate impact these moderation policies will have on public discourse and society.

The ongoing tension between free expression and responsible content moderation reflects a fundamental challenge facing all social media platforms. However, X’s approach under Musk has drawn particular scrutiny due to the platform’s outsized influence on political discourse, breaking news, and global conversations.

As users continue to navigate this evolving digital environment, questions persist about how platforms should balance competing priorities: protecting vulnerable users from harm, preventing the spread of dangerous misinformation, and preserving open dialogue. Without transparent policies and consistent enforcement, critics argue that platforms risk becoming amplifiers of the internet’s most problematic voices.

The case of Inevitable West serves as just one example of how content creators on X can reach global audiences with little accountability for accuracy or impact—a microcosm of the larger questions facing social media governance in the modern era.