Twitter abuse victims fear Musk's 'free speech' plans, but may not quit

Perhaps no group of people is more alarmed about Elon Musk's apparent plan to make Twitter a free speech free-for-all than those most likely to be targeted for harassment: women, racial minorities and other marginalised groups.

They fear that a more hands-off approach to policing the platform will embolden purveyors of hate speech, bullying and disinformation to ratchet up their bad behavior — a possibility Musk has done little to dispel.

Yet even those who have faced extreme harassment on Twitter say they are unlikely to quit the platform. Despite the negative psychological toll, they value Twitter as a diverse forum to