Elon Musk will soon be in control of Twitter.
On Monday, the corporation stated that it had accepted Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s offer of $44 billion to take the company private. That means the world’s wealthiest individual, who enjoys theatrics and erratic conduct, will soon have the power to affect conversation on a social network utilised by more than 200 million people every day.
What is Musk’s plan for wielding that power?
He’s made some Twitter proposals, which you can see below.
In the interest of free expression, loosen content standards.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk identifies himself as a “free speech absolutist” who has blasted what he perceives as excessive moderation on social media sites.
“Free expression is the backbone of a functional democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where things crucial to the future of humanity are debated,” he said in a statement announcing the purchase, nodding to these ideals.
Musk has claimed that while nasty comments are still lawful, social media platforms should not erase them. During a recent TED conference interview, he remarked, “Allow the tweet to exist if it’s a murky area.
“Harassment, abuse, and remarks that threaten physical harm to others are currently prohibited on Twitter. Other safeguards exist on the site, such as a prohibition on misrepresentation about COVID-19.
Musk’s desire to change the limits of engagement on Twitter is causing concern among social network experts. They claim that this might empower harassers, trolls, and others who abuse the site to target people carte blanche.
They also fear that loosening Twitter’s regulations could embolden individuals trying to take advantage of the site by spreading misinformation, or outright lies, regarding political events, government leaders, and public health and safety issues.
Create a button that allows people to update their tweets.
An edit button is one of the most requested product changes among Twitter users.
Twitter, unlike Facebook, Instagram, and other social media apps, does not allow users to edit information after it has been published.
Musk has stated that he favours the ability for people to change the content of their tweets, a suggestion that has sparked a heated dispute among academics, journalists, and other heavy Twitter users.
Experts worry that adding an edit option will be weaponized by bad actors who would use it to cover up abuse or harassment as if it never happened, or to deceive or manipulate others.
Others, however, believe that safeguards could be put in place to allow tweets to be updated to remove mistakes while also displaying a history of how the tweet was edited to preserve the original message.
Allow the public to see Twitter’s algorithm.
Musk has stated that the software that controls what users see on Twitter and how widely content spreads should be opened open. He favours putting Twitter’s algorithm on GitHub, a prominent website for programmers to share code.
While some proponents of increased transparency at social media businesses argue that disclosing Twitter’s thick and complicated algorithm to the public will accomplish little, others argue that it would.
Every day, a social media platform the size of Twitter processes billions of pieces of content. The rationale behind how and why tweets go viral, as well as how Twitter’s recommendation system works, is so thick and sophisticated that even the company’s own software developers are baffled by it.
Declare war on ‘bot armies.’
Another move Musk supports is combating the rise of bots on Twitter, which are false accounts that are designed to respond to tweets on specific themes.
Musk’s business empire is infamous for attracting bots, including bots that support his electric vehicle company Tesla and attack Musk opponents.
He has not stated that he would like to temper such bots, but he has proposed that scammy bots advertising bitcoin scams be cracked down on.
“We will battle the spam bots or die trying if our Twitter bid succeeds!” Musk said in a tweet last week that he wants to “authenticate all real persons.”
Advertisements should be discarded.
Currently, advertising accounts for about 90% of Twitter’s revenue, but the firm has struggled to lure advertisers to the platform, which frequently devolves into political firestorms and nasty online brawls.
The corporation will no longer be under the same pressure from shareholders to consistently increase advertising income now that it is private. Musk has suggested that it switch to a subscription model.
Last year, Twitter introduced Twitter Blue, a premium service that costs $2.99 a month and includes features such as an undo button that allows users to retract tweets before they are published.
Musk has stated that Twitter Blue should be less expensive, that users who pay should not have to view commercials, and that the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which began as a joke, should be accepted as a means of payment for a Twitter membership.
And there’s a big unknown: Will Donald Trump be reinstated?
Musk has not publicly stated if he will allow former President Donald Trump to return to the platform after the business permanently barred him for using language that violated the site’s rules and fueled the siege on the US Capitol on Jan. 6.
Trump hailed Musk “a terrific man” and said he was delighted with the billionaire’s acquisition in a Fox News interview on Monday, but he claimed he has no intentions to return to Twitter. Instead, Trump has stated that he will concentrate on his alternative social network, Truth Social.
A Twitter employee questioned CEO Parag Agrawal whether Trump would be restored during an all-hands meeting on Monday afternoon. That was a query for Musk, according to Agrawal.
“We don’t know which path the platform will go once the deal happens,” he said.
