Academic Twitter is dead, says Cambridge PhD trolled over thesis

A University of Cambridge academic who received rape threats after posting a photo of herself with her PhD thesis has condemned X’s failure to police abusive social media messages, saying the site is “no longer an appropriate platform for academics…to share their ideas with one another”.

Ally Louks’ post to say she had passed her viva with no corrections – accompanied by her selfie – has been viewed more than 116 million times since it was published on 27 November after the title of her dissertation – “Olfactory Ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose” – was seized upon by some US-based accounts as evidence of impenetrable “woke” academic jargon, claiming her thesis abstract strengthened the case for defunding the humanities.

One X user described Dr Louks’ brain as being “diseased and rotted by leftism” while another suggested, instead of taking a PhD, she would have been better off “getting married and having children”. Others mistakenly claimed that US taxpayers’ money was being “wasted” on funding such studies.

In turn, many X posters have sprung to Dr Louks’ defence, criticising “misogynist hate” and “absurdly ignorant comments” directed towards the Peterhouse, Cambridge graduate and the desire of online critics to denigrate women with expert disciplinary knowledge.

While instigating a global conversation about the value of the PhD and the humanities – as well as a “male loneliness crisis” among X users – Dr Louks’ has also provoked more threatening messages. Cambridgeshire Police has confirmed that it is investigating potential hate incidents, with Dr Louks condemning the “abhorrent and illegal” comments of some X users.

“No one should ever have to deal with this,” she said on X.

The episode has also underlined the growing alienation felt by academics using X since it was bought by Elon Musk in October 2022, with the site’s algorithms increasing the volume of right-wing voices and rules on abusive posts being relaxed in the name of upholding free speech.

Speaking to Times Higher Education, Dr Louks, who is now teaching at Cambridge, said it was “clear that the X platform is no longer invested in preventing its users from suffering abuse”.

“Targeted hate, slurs, and threats ought to be automatically flagged and removed, and the option to report a tweet ought to actually function. This is no longer the case,” she added.

On suggestions that the tidal wave of hate directed towards her might represent a tipping point for so-called academic Twitter, which is increasingly migrating towards other sites such as BlueSky, Dr Louks said it “seems to me that X is no longer an appropriate platform for academics, as a community, to share their ideas with one another”.

“That being said, I would like to reach a wider, non-academic audience with my work, so I plan to remain on the platform,” she added.

Many have praised Dr Louks’ calm and humorous response to what is possibly an unprecedented online pile-on for a UK academic. “Very rare to see someone react to being swarmed by bizarrely angry, resentful people with the grace, good humor, and general chill attitude that Ally Louks has shown through this entire crazy episode,” remarked a Yale University-based academic.

While acknowledging that other younger female academics may react differently to this kind of global controversy – with retweets and sub-conversations, it was estimated that her post has been viewed more than 200 million times – Dr Louks said she was “unfazed by the vitriol” that she has faced.

“I can only speak for myself, but the hateful comments have been so baseless and outlandish that they do present as amusing. I felt that if I left the platform, the trolls might think that they had affected me in some way. That couldn’t be further from the case.”

Ironically, as some online commenters have pointed out, the attacks on Dr Louks have now made her dissertation the most-viewed PhD thesis of all time – albeit, only its cover and abstract have been posted online, with the full thesis currently unpublished.

“I wouldn’t know how to validate this claim, but my thesis is under embargo, so no one has read beyond the abstract,” reflected Dr Louks, adding: “The most exciting part, for me, will come when I can publish my work and discuss it fully with readers.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com