I think members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies should ditch Twitter for Meta's newest app, Threads.

It's a text-based app linked to Instagram. It essentially functions just like Twitter in terms of a text-based timeline, except instead of being owned by billionaire edgelord Elon Musk, it's owned by billionaire meat smoker Mark Zuckerberg.

I know what most of you are thinking and I agree: both men are notoriously disliked billionaires. Billionaires should not exist for plenty of reasons, but that's not the focus of this debate for me. For me, it's choosing between a far-right spaceman with a weird affinity for anime girls, and someone who has the personal information of nearly three billion people at his fingertips.

Personally, I dislike Musk more than I'm creeped out by Zuckerberg. As someone who grew up with the internet, I'm used to being always watched, which is frightening, but like most people in my generation, I don't really care anymore.

Ever since Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, the app has gotten progressively more toxic, and this is without even mentioning the constant porn and crypto bots that bombard my direct messages.

Between posting edgy memes and updates about his phallic spaceships, Musk has really been chugging along on the anti-Transgender train that far-right media has been fueling.

"Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions," Musk tweeted in response to someone complaining about being called "cis." "The words 'cis' or 'cisgender' are considered slurs on this platform."

This tweet by Musk encouraged more anti-Trans people to speak out.

"'Cis' is ideological language, signifying belief in the unfalsifiable concept of gender identity," said TERF and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling on Twitter. "You have a perfect right to believe in unprovable essences that may or may not match the sexed body, but the rest of us have a right to disagree, and to refuse to adopt your jargon."

This anti-Trans ideology is extremely harmful to some in the Queer community, along with it being false.

According to PinkNews, "Much of the way we speak about gender derives from Latin. Both 'cis' and 'trans' are Latin prefixes, with cis meaning 'on this side of' and trans meaning 'across from' or 'on the other side of.'"

Just like the word "Trans" is not an insult, neither is "cis." If you think the word "Trans" is an insult, that implies you have an issue with Trans people.

The increase of hate since Musk purchased Twitter isn't just speculation; it's been proven by the Center for Countering Digital Hate. According to the CCDH, "The volume of [the anti-LGBTQ+] narrative on Twitter has only grown under Elon Musk, with tweets and retweets mentioning the LGBTQ+ community alongside 'grooming' slurs jumping 119% since his takeover of the platform on October 27, 2022.

"Often targeting educators, Pride events, or drag story hour events, the 'grooming' narrative demonizes the LGBTQ+ community with hateful tropes, using slurs like 'groomer' and 'pedophile.'"

Why Threads is a friendlier place
Threads, on the other hand, censors anti-LGBTQ+ posts.

For example, the Twitter account @libsoftiktok tweeted, "Stating facts is 'hate speech' on Threads," with an accompanying image of a blocked thread that said "non-binary isn't real."

There was also a warning that popped up indicating the spread of false news when some Threads users tried to follow Donald Trump Jr. Meta claims that this was a mistake and has since removed the warning, but I think they should bring it back and put it on all accounts that spread fake news. I'm sick and tired of these hateful people having such a large and visible platform.

I'm not the only person who believes that Threads is the next Queer-friendly social media platform either. In its first few days, there were many speaking about their excitement about having a platform not run by Musk.

"Elon is a slur," said Queer internet celebrity Matt Bernstein on Threads, an obvious jab at Musk's decision to villainize the word "cis."

Concerns
There are some concerns people are already pointing out about the app, though.

For one, nudity and pornographic material is not allowed on Threads, but it's allowed on Twitter.

My response to this is that in the decade I've spent on Twitter, I've seen way too many pornographic tweets that I did not want to see on my timeline, so I have no problem with platforms that don't allow porn. There are also plenty of other places on the internet to find porn, so people need to chill out.

As someone who has grown up with the internet, I think Threads is also a safer place for kids, because they do not need to be seeing fake news and porn. I know kids shouldn't be on social media anyway, but they obviously are so, let's make a safe space for them on at least one app.

Another concern is the fact that Threads is connected to Instagram, so those who follow you on Instagram and make a Threads account will automatically follow you on Threads. Those who are annoyed by that and don't want to follow certain people (or have them follow their account) can just block or unfollow them or remove them as followers.

People are also complaining about the fact that there is no direct-message feature. To that argument, I say that I'm tired of being added to Twitter group chats with scammers, so the lack of the feature is alright with me.

I also know that some are beginning to flee from Threads, but I know they will come crawling back as soon as Musk bans another word or does something equally as stupid.

Musk has threatened to sue Zuckerberg over the creation of Threads, so we'll see what happens next. In the meantime, I'll be using Threads instead of Twitter.