Althea– Content writer, Headline Diplomat eMagazine

Following Elon Musk’s announcement of his plan to acquire Twitter, a microblogging platform, there has been widespread worry about the consequences of letting someone who has criticised organisations that play a role in content moderation own Twitter.

Importance of Twitter to Netizens

Many netizens have expressed their concerns about the potential consequences of a single person acquiring and controlling a firm like Twitter. That’s because Twitter isn’t just any other firm. In the last decade, it has evolved into a platform, where people read the news, where social movements such as #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter grow and organise, and where journalists and politicians can get a sense of the mood and arguments. This is true everywhere, but it is especially true in places where press freedom is restricted. The choices Twitter makes about what can be posted, what content is amplified, and how it is amplified have significant effects on human rights and societies worldwide, while we can never forget how it moved the masses, during US presidential election and banning the former President, Donald Trump.

Are Social Media Platforms really responsible and the media source to go to?

Interestingly, according to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, firms are responsible for protecting human rights and correcting violations that they create or contribute to. However, they must do it clearly and be accountable, implementing their actions consistently. Whether social media are doing this and have indeed done it, is highly controversial.

A careful examination of how numerous social media platforms have responded to the Covid pandemic or even the war in Ukraine reveals that more firms, including Twitter, are attempting to defend free speech and address online content and behavior that endanger people’s rights. Twitter, for example, has responded to the conflict in Ukraine. And at the start of the invasion in February, social media companies appeared to be making significant content selections on the fly. In late March, for example, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, revised its policy on Ukraine content daily. The New York Times says that this made content moderators who were making these decisions nervous.

What Elon Musk’s Purchase of Twitter Could Mean for Free Speech

But the question that begs an answer is whether Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is good or bad from the standpoint of freedom of expression.

The internet has been divided since Elon Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter was accepted. However, many individuals believe that the move was a positive one for the following reasons:

1. Twitter Could Be More Serious About Free Expression

Twitter does not have the finest reputation when it comes to free expression. Many people believe that Twitter, its algorithm, and content moderators favor one side over the other regarding politics.

Twitter users generally complain about getting shadow-banned when posting tweets regarding certain topics. Even though Twitter’s rules about misinformation are meant to protect users, they may raise ethical questions about free speech and who decides what misinformation is.

2. Musk Suggested Several Twitter Improvements

Musk wants to change some things about Twitter. His plans haven’t been put into action yet, but they seem good for the site.

Making Twitter’s algorithm open-source is one such enhancement. This will provide transparency into how Twitter operates, ensuring that no content biases exist. It will also make it easier to understand how some Twitter features work and how advertisements and promoted content are selected for users.

Other changes would include getting rid of all the annoying bots that post spam on the network, adding an “edit” button and features that can make Twitter Blue tick worth it, and making user authentication better.

3. The News May Be Beneficial to Current Shareholders

While Elon Musk will own the company privately after the sale is completed, Twitter will remain a publicly-traded corporation until then. This means that existing and new owners can continue to exchange their shares for a profit or loss.

The Twitter share price will continue to fluctuate as Musk reveals more details about what he expects to do or execute when he takes over. If investors believe in Musk’s promises, the price will rise, resulting in significant gains for stockholders who trade before the final sale.

This is heavily contingent on how people perceive Twitter’s future after the sale, but stock prices may continue to rise as the date approaches.

4. Musk’s Business Track Record May Help Twitter Succeed

Leaving aside whatever you might think of Musk, there is no questioning his track record of success in other companies he has been involved with. Musk started PayPal many years ago, and it has since grown to become one of the most popular online payment services.

Musk is currently the CEO of Tesla and the Founder/CEO of SpaceX. Both companies are working on things for the future. One is making AI-driven cars, and the other is making spaceships for travel and research in space. If you come to think about it, Musk is just a man. Yes, a man with unlimited resources, but also an eternal start-uper, one that stays up all night to make it work. So, yes, he is man to envie, but also a man to be inspired by and learn from.

Musk’s public character has catapulted both companies into the public eye, and they are both billion-dollar businesses in terms of value. So, it may be the case that if were to have a role model in our professional upbringing, this would be the one. Jokes aside, we know all about his jokes, which are indeed a bit more caustic than usual, but we still hear him out and follow him. So why not him and why someone else leading Twitter?

Musk is likely to bring his successful experience in tech companies to Twitter. This is something that Twitter needs as it has indeed been losing ground for some time and does require a much different approach in business. Surely, the businessman knows how to operate a company, and we can expect Twitter to do the same. Some say that he may be even be trying to influence the masses for his own advances. And my answer is who hasn’t and possibly even, show me one person that had power and money and did not exert them to the wider public. What I am wondering is if he could actually exert his power and monet for the greater community good and if can, then why not leading the way.

Conclusion

Musk’s potential acquisition of Twitter has been met with a mix of praise and criticism. Many have argued that a proponent of free speech can’t be the best person to own a huge social media platform like Twitter. But who should?

Such an acquisition does not really worry me or you. There are surely certain conditions that came with his acquisition to ensure that content moderation is maintained. The company has to walk the fine line between protecting free speech and taking action against online content and behavior that puts people’s rights at risk on the platform.

Hopefully, Elon Musk’s public persona and track record of success in the tech industry will help Twitter to thrive. Whether the purchase is good or bad for freedom of speech is left for us to find out in the months and years ahead. I am all pro-Musk and he is one of the few leaders out there that can surely bring a disruption in any form and way that we can even put our minds to contemplate. What is now our thought, he has already brought it to fruition.

Featured photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya, pexels