Half of Canadians think Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter will lead to ‘more hate speech, misinformation’: poll

The Elon Musk Twitter saga has divided the public. Many have applauded the billionaire's plans to transform the platform to better serve its role as the public town square, while others have suggested opening up the floodgates could have unintended consequences.

A new poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute asked Canadians about their views on the takeover, and social media in general.

The poll found that a sixty-six percent of Canadians are closely following the deal between Elon Musk and Twitter, with the strongest cohort being males aged 18-34.

Reception to Musk's takeover varied, with the difference in opinion aligning for the most part with party affiliation.

Conservative Party voters overwhelmingly saw the change in ownership as being good for free speech, with only thirty-four percent saying it would lead to an increase in the spread of hate speech and misinformation.

NDP and Liberal Party voters, on the other hand, said they thought Musk would have a detrimental impact on free speech, and that hate speech and misinformation would be more prevalent.

The poll then asked how respondents would act if, in fact, the deal goes through.

Of those surveyed, half said it would have "no impact," while nine percent said they would leave the app or delete their account entirely.

NDP and Conservative voters, as well as women of all ages, were more likely to say they'd leave Twitter, whereas Conservative Party voters and men aged 18-54 said they were more likely to increase their use of the platform.

The findings come after Elon Musk's bid passed a federal antitrust review on Sunday, however, he recently announced that he may not go through with the deal at all, citing concerns over Twitter's failure to address his inquiries about how many fake, or bot accounts are currently on the platform.