2018 was a big year for Twitter controversies. From people getting banned for their tweets to high-profile Twitter feuds, there was no shortage of drama on the social media platform. Check also Webprocomponents that shows you what topics are trending in specific geographic areas.
Here are some of the biggest Twitter controversies of 2018.
The great Twitter purge
In February 2018, Twitter began purging its platform of fake and inactive accounts. This caused a big stir among users, with many people seeing their follower counts drop significantly overnight. Some people even lost hundreds or thousands of followers.
While many people applauded Twitter for finally cracking down on fake accounts, others were not so happy. Some people accused Twitter of unfairly targeting certain users, while others said that the purge was ineffective and that it didn’t do enough to remove fake accounts.
The Roseanne Barr controversy
In May 2018, Roseanne Barr sparked controversy when she tweeted a racist remark about Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama. Barr later deleted the tweet and apologized, but it was too late.
ABC quickly canceled her show, “Roseanne,” in response to the controversy. Barr later blamed the tweet on Ambien, but many people were not buying that excuse.
The #MeToo movement
The #MeToo movement took over Twitter in October 2017 and continued to be a major force throughout 2018. The movement gave women a platform to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault, and many high-profile men were accused of misconduct as a result.
The #MeToo movement also sparked a lot of debate on Twitter. Some people praised the movement for giving women a voice, while others criticized it for being “toxic” and “anti-men.”
The James Gunn controversy
In July 2018, director James Gunn was fired from Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise after old tweets of his resurfaced in which he joked about rape and pedophilia.
Gunn apologized for the tweets, but Disney stood by its decision to fire him. The controversy sparked a debate on Twitter about whether or not people should be held accountable for their old tweets.
The Kanye West controversy
Kanye West stirred up controversy on Twitter in April 2018 when he tweeted that slavery was a “choice.” West later clarified that he was not referring to slavery in the literal sense, but many people were not convinced.
The controversy led to a Twitter feud between West and Wiz Khalifa, and it also resulted in West getting dragged by a lot of people on the social media platform.
The Donald Trump controversy
Donald Trump is no stranger to controversy, and he caused a lot of it on Twitter in 2018. From his attacks on the media to his feud with LeBron James, Trump was a constant source of drama on the social media platform.
Trump also continued to use Twitter to attack his opponents and promote his own agenda. This led to many people calling for him to be banned from the platform, but so far Twitter has refused to do so.
7. The Alex Jones controversy
In August 2018, Twitter finally banned conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from its platform. Jones had been stirring up controversy on Twitter for years with his false and inflammatory claims, but the final straw was when he tweeted a video of himself harassing a CNN reporter.
Twitter’s decision to ban Jones was met with mixed reactions. Some people praised the decision, while others accused Twitter of censorship.
8. The Aziz Ansari controversy
In January 2018, actor Aziz Ansari was accused of sexual misconduct by a woman who went on a date with him. The woman’s story sparked a debate on Twitter about sexual consent and whether or not Ansari did anything wrong.
Many people came to Ansari’s defense, saying that the woman’s story was an example of “bad sex” rather than sexual assault. Others said that Ansari should have known better and that he was guilty of sexual misconduct.
