At least for me the twitter comments have always been a cess pool of toxicity and really have only gotten worse over the years. Far worse than any other platform I've used. I haven't noticed a significant change in the rate the toxicity grows since he elon took over but to be fair I do feel as though the toxicity has been near saturation for years already.

A lot of it did, and still does get removed/hidden that at least gives the impression that the platform is less toxic than it really is but I don't really buy the argument that forceful removal/banning is helpful anymore because it really hasn't worked anywhere online that ive seen, it just escalates things and makes them madder/more vengeful. Then they just make new posts/accounts/do damage elsewhere.

I'd much rather just read a few more empty death and terrorism theats and move on with my day than have twitter esculate them until they actually are mad enough to try and follow through with them.

Has the left always "infested" it, then? Or does the left merely occupy while the right, exclusively, "infests"?

The far right can only infest.

You got it right.

It's like dating apps. Letting people buy reach, rather than relying on "merit," can make people's feeds worse. And yet you have to make money. It's a balancing act. You want to turn the ads spigot on just enough that people are still happy with the service.