Musk buys Twitter; renewed debate on free speech
Yes! Musk buys Twitter. The fact that we live in a polarized world is no new news. The exponential growth of social media has created echo chambers and ideological bubbles that hinder us from participating in a proper civil discourse. Conservatives have for long labelled a loaded charge that social media giants have unfairly tweaked their algorithm to suppress conservative discourse; Twitter being no exception. Assumed to be the most popular platform for celebrities, journalists, politicians and anyone who is anybody, Elon Musk has now stuck a historic deal to buy off Twitter and take it private.
We are unsure whether the deal will actually pull through or what impact Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter will have. However, we intend to discuss the perils of having a billionaire control one of the world’s largest social media platform and implications for competing brands instead.
Musk’s own anti free-speech record
While conservatives have lauded Elon Musk’s decision to buy Twitter, hoping that Twitter would finally be stripped of the ‘liberal bias’, what needs to be carefully analyzed is Musk’s own track record on it. Multiple leaks and testimonies by ex-employees of Tesla speak of a totally different Musk. Moreover, it seems that Musk and Tesla have gone out of their way to prohibit current and ex-employees from making any negative comments about the company. In a nutshell, therefore, Musk seems to be a proponent of free speech that he believes in or at the very most is neutral to. Musk’s records proves he is intolerant of speech he does not like.
Potential for engaging in anti-competitive behavior
Now let us talk about the global business implications, if the deal goes through. If Musk were to take Twitter private, he will be free to do as he pleases. This means that he can limit or prohibit competitive brands’ voice on the platform. No wonder Jeff Bezos, one of his ardent critic and business competitor, has expressed dread already:
Lack of vision regarding Twitter as a business
At the end of the day, is the deal even worth it for Elon Musk? While he has said publicly that the acquisition is not about the money, reality speaks otherwise. Twitter is a business after all. And like Facebook and Google, generates most of its revenue from ad. Brands do not care about left or right. However, they will care about their ads appearing next to extremist contents, irrespective of the ideological spectrum.
So, even if Musk remains true to his words about less moderation, it remains to be seen if this move will drive away the advertisers. Just today, Musk hinted that he might be charging some kind of fee from businesses and government officials. So may be, he is serious after all.
Summing up
Social medias need to be more open about their moderation policies. While it remains to be seen whether Twitter under Musk will live up to that ideal, there has to be a reason why a significant portion of the population is cheering the deal. Of course, we are not against some level of moderation against serious incidents like personalized threats, terrorism. However, it is hypocritical that social media sometimes provide total impunity against those who call for violence. For example, Facebook’s decision to temporarily allow for call for violence against Putin and Russians.
In part, social medias are to blame for the creation of ideological echo chambers. That said, we are seriously worried what the implications of a billionaire taking Twitter private would mean. If you are worried about a public company infringing on your free speech, wonder what giving that control to just one individual would represent!
