The Ringer: https://www.theringer.com/tech/2019/1/29/18201695/learn-to-code-twitter-abuse-buzzfeed-journalists
This has been going on a few days (and as I work at BuzzFeed, have seen first hand), but it's another co-opting of an innocuous phrase used for bad ends.
Many people retweeted requests for work, lauded the talents of the unfairly fired, or criticized BuzzFeed for its poor handling of the situation. But there was one frequently tweeted phrase that stood out from the sympathy: "Learn to code."
There was word Twitter was taking down "learn to code" tweets because they fall under the umbrella of abusive content, but a Twitter spokesperson clarified its position in an email: "It's more nuanced than what was initially reported. Twitter is responding to a targeted harassment campaign against specific individuals—a policy that's long been against the Twitter Rules." Twitter also directed me to its policy on targeted harassment, which prohibits "behavior that encourages others to harass or target specific individuals or groups with abusive behavior." I also asked Twitter whether it was able to identify coordinated efforts directed at the mass of recently laid-off writers, or whether it could tell where those efforts were coming from, but the company did not respond as of publishing.
t's not only the timing of the obnoxious unsolicited advice that takes it to a place of abuse—it's also the targeting. "It's just straight up spamming them," he says, in a way meant to be "cruel and hurtful." Through this lens, tweeting "learn to code" can be viewed as similar to the alt-right use of parentheses to label Jewish people, or how racists turned Pepe the Frog into a hate symbol—a way to covertly harass someone in a manner that is difficult for Twitter to detect. Before writing off "learn to code" as a harmless joke, it might be important to remember that it's being hurled at a profession the president of the United States has at best belittled and at worst supported violence against. "Learn to code" is not a viral phrase that's being spammed to out-of-work journalists; it's a targeted attack disguised as a meme.
This has been going on a few days (and as I work at BuzzFeed, have seen first hand), but it's another co-opting of an innocuous phrase used for bad ends.