Elon Musk announced his plan for purchasing Twitter in April. After a few rounds of exchanging “fire”, the Twitter board and Elon Musk finally closed their deal on Twitter on October 27th of 2022. The deal cost Musk 44 billion dollars, a considerable amount even for the richest on Earth.
After purchasing the company, Musk became the company’s CEO. To further cement his control over the company, or in steps to turn Twitter into a more open place for everyone, Elon Musk made changes to many high-ranking Twitter managers. He also dissolved the board of directors and finally announced future changes for the companies. Considering its global usage, Twitter can actively influence the entire world. This is especially true when considering the impact Twitter has on world politics, with the 2016 election being the most impressionable example. Despite Elon Musk still insisting that the Twitter board had hidden evidence from the court, no further legal actions are taken. This is either due to Elon Musk’s claim lacking evidence or the suspected actions not being serious enough for legal action.
Personally for Elon Musk, purchasing Twitter has been about “helping humanity” and preventing the existing political polarization occurring on the platform. Both reasons are mentioned numerous times ever since Elon Musk announced his idea of purchasing the company, with the ideas being echoed most recently in Musk’s “Open Letter Tweet” to the advertisers on Twitter[i]. The changes to Twitter managers are a move in this direction of “free speech”. The specific changes on “censorship policies” will be touched up later in the essay. However, to many others, Elon Musk’s moves are merely a way to cement his control over the company. By dissolving the board of directors and firing the CEO, and head of legal and policy teams, Musk brought in his men from Tesla.
Finally, aiming for a better social media platform, Elon Musk also announces that there will be changes in identity verification, such as a monthly subscription fee for verified users, however, the exact methods are still being decided. This need for a new verification method is Elon Musk’s solution to the common identity theft problem currently on the platform.
Despite Musk’s hopes of getting rid of spam accounts and new plans for identification verification, advertisements do not seem to be leaving the platform anytime soon. Due to the nature of free social media platforms, users do not provide income for the companies. Instead, the advertising companies provide the financial source for the social media companies. Due to Twitter losing money over the years, (The company only made a profit in 2018 and 2019) it is not plausible for Musk to rid the company immediately of the ads. Furthermore, advertisements makeup around 90 percent of the company’s revenue[ii]. Currently, this advertisement-based economic model holds true for not only Twitter but most social media companies.
Finally, the act of purchasing as well as changing the governing structure of Twitter led to controversies. The main issue being Elon Musk’s vision of “free speech”. To Elon Musk, free speech meant lowering the regulations that were in place and decreasing censorship. In his own words, Elon Musk describes:
“By ‘free speech,’ I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask the government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”
This view is controversial because it does not offer protection against hate or discriminatory language. The bar for “being legal” is usually surprisingly low, for example, in the U.S., any speech that is not clearly leading to imminent danger. Many celebrities decided to leave Twitter due to the change in “Free Speech” policies, arguing that the policies provided a safe haven for hate speech[iii]. Usage of the “N word” for example, increased by around 500% within two days of Elon Musk’s take-over[iv]. Others celebrate the move as one that prevents unnecessary banning of accounts. Finally, former president Trump has to add that “I don’t think Twitter can be successful without me.[v]”
[i] Elon Musk Oct 27, 2022 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585619322239561728
[ii] Jon Schwarz Oct 28, 2022 https://theintercept.com/2022/10/28/elon-musk-twitter/
[iii] https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/twitter-celebrities-leaving-elon-musk-rcna54831
[iv]Kiara Alfonseca https://abcnews.go.com/Business/hate-speech-increased-twitter-elon-musk-takeover-study/story?id=92445797
[v] Brook Singman https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-to-stay-on-his-truth-social-amid-elon-musk-twitter-takeover
