Elon Musk gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups … [+]
Elon Musk has declared the words “cis” and “cisgender” are now considered slurs on Twitter, according to a tweet the billionaire owner sent early Wednesday. The new policy doesn’t show up in any of Twitter’s officially published guidelines and the move would be unique in the world of social media where competitor platforms like Facebook do not consider cisgender to be a slur.
“The words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform,” Musk tweeted shortly after midnight ET in response to a user who claimed he was being harassed by trans rights activists.
The word cisgender refers to people whose gender identity corresponds to their sex registered at birth. The word transgender refers to the opposite—someone whose gender identity is different from that assigned to them at birth.
It’s not immediately clear what kind of punishment Twitter users who use cisgender may face, though Musk is well known for announcing new policies or programs at the social media company that never really get enshrined in any formal way or otherwise take months to become a reality. As just one example, Musk announced back in February that Twitter would start sharing ad revenue with creators on the platform. It’s still not clear when that program may start.
The new policy to declare cisgender a slur seems to be in line with a goal by anti-trans activists to somehow make the word toxic. The Oxford English Dictionary notes the term cisgender first became popular in the late 1990s to talk about gender expression and most people don’t seem to consider it a slur.
Back in April, Musk removed protections for trans users on the social media platform that were denounced by GLAAD, the LGBT advocacy organization. Twitter had previously banned “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” in line with other platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. But Musk got rid of the ban on deadnaming.
Many people speculated at the time that Musk’s decision to strip some protections for trans Twitter users had something to do with the billionaire’s estrangement from his daughter, who is trans. Musk has spoken out about this estrangement, and seems to blame the influence of college.
“Musk has a dystopian view of the left’s influence on America, which helps explain his wild pursuit of Twitter to liberate free speech. He blames the fact that his teenage daughter no longer wants to be associated with him on the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by neo-Marxists,” the Financial Times wrote in a profile of Musk in October 7, 2022.
Twitter responded to a question about the new policy with a poop emoji, an automated response set up by Musk that’s sent to all reporters. I’ll update this article if I hear back anything of substance.
