Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter (now X) in 2022 for $44 billion, is using the site’s moderators to lead a crusade against the word “cisgender,” a descriptive term that describes people whose gender aligns with their sex assigned at birth, ordering the platform to label it a slur.
It seems that moderation of the word took precedence over the moderation of actual slurs in early May, according to a TechCrunch report.
In a June 2023 tweet, Musk declared that “the words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform,” and any Tweet containing the phrase will have its reach “limited,” per dialogue within the app. But TechCrunch notes that slurs against Black, transgender, and Jewish people don’t receive the same treatment and can be posted without warning.
Further, Musk suggested in the past that repeated use of the term could result in “at minimum, temporary suspensions,” despite his attempt to brand himself a “free-speech absolutist.”
The term, which is used in multiple medical and legal contexts, and per the Human Rights Campaign is the preferred term to refer to individuals who align with their assigned sex at birth, is one flash point in a right-wing battle against any term which legitimizes the identity of transgender individuals. Musk’s classification came just a day after transphobic commentator James Esses rallied against the term on the platform.
Musk, who has amplified transphobic content in the past (though telling J.K. Rowling that her repeated anti-trans tirades were getting tired), has so far survived pressure from Tesla investors, some of whom say his far right-politics are hurting the car manufacturer’s bottom line.
The ‘X Corp’ CEO, who sued the news site Media Matters into financial ruin for its criticism of unfettered white nationalism on the platform, culminating in mass layoffs this week that affected employees attributed to "far-right billionaires," continues to use his platform to troll and belittle left-wing individuals and platform extremism.
