The evolution of X: How Musk transformed the social media giant in 2024

When questioned on this, Inevitable West told me that they’d say the same about other religions. Separately, they also said they would never delete their own posts – even when they turn out to be untrue.

Meanwhile, their content is being seen by feeds around the world.

Allegations of bias in moderation methods have long been levelled at Twitter, both before and since Mr Musk acquired the company, alongside questions about whether the site previously limited freedom of expression.

I spoke to Twitter insiders about this for a Panorama investigation which aired in 2023, and they told me that, in their view, the company was going to struggle to protect users from trolling, state-coordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation, putting this down to, among other things, mass layoffs.

At the time, X did not respond to the points raised. Afterwards, Mr Musk tweeted a BBC article about the Panorama episode with the caption: “Sorry for turning Twitter from nurturing paradise into a place that has… trolls”. He also declared, “trolls are kinda fun”.

Separately, Mr Musk had said he had “no choice” but to reduce the company’s workforce because of financial losses.

Lisa Jennings Young, former head of content design at X who worked there until 2022, says: “I feel like we’re all living through a vast social experiment [on humanity].”

It doesn’t have a specified goal, she says. Instead, in her view, it is “not a controlled social science experiment [but one] we’re all a part of”. No one really knows what the final result could be, she argues.