San Francisco (AFP) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s sudden offer to acquire all of Twitter’s shares has sparked a wave of anxiety on the network, with a large number of users and observers expressing concern about the idea of a feisty businessman controlling the platform. “If Elon Musk takes over Twitter, I will leave the network,” says Carol Roth, an entrepreneur and research developer for small and medium businesses. The world’s richest man wants to take over Twitter to make the platform a bastion of freedom of expression, he says. It considers content moderation to be excessive, and in a democratic sense, fewer restrictions should be placed on users. “Twitter has really become the public space,” Musk said at a meeting Thursday. So it is very important that people feel that they can speak freely through it within the limits of the law and that they have the ability to do so.” Musk did not address the issue of preventing former US President Donald Trump in January 2021, after several warnings, deleting tweets, and the killing of a number of people in storming the Capitol Building, from using major electronic platforms, because of his incitement to violence by his supporters. “I think we have to be very careful before deleting tweets and imposing permanent bans, and it is better that these bans be temporary,” the businessman added.
whims of billionaires
Musk’s approach impresses the conservative American right and others outside the United States. Nigel Farage, one of the leaders of the British pro-Brexit campaign, considers Elon Musk’s interest in Twitter to be “the best news for freedom of expression in years”. Conspiracy theories, bigotry and hate.
“Elon Musk himself has used Twitter and other platforms to attack and silence others,” Free Press official Jessica Gonzalez said in a statement. and dissemination of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and associated vaccines. He used the platform to manipulate the markets and increase his already large fortune.”
“Users of social media should not be at the mercy of the whims of arrogant billionaires who are detached from reality,” she added.
Several press articles indicate that this desire to reduce moderation of conversations also worries Twitter employees.
Not only is Tesla known for its success and profits, but its Fremont plant, specifically in Silicon Valley, is facing lawsuits over harassment and systematic racial discrimination.
privatization of public space
“Millions of people, most notably journalists, artists and activists rely on this platform to get their work done,” says Evan Greer, director of the non-governmental organization Fight for the Future, which advocates for digital rights, including freedom of expression. The network from someone like Elon Musk shows that there is a fundamental problem that there are too few companies with too much power.”
The financial operation raises questions about the accumulated power of the big tech companies.
For years, a large number of elected US representatives from both sides have been calling for better organization of the platforms, especially to achieve more competition, without agreeing on solutions.
“Having the whole company from one person is an ideal idea to liberate people from the central state and from capitalist control,” says media specialist Parker Molloy.
“The opposite should happen,” notes investor Fred Wilson. “Twitter should be a decentralized platform,” he says.
Elon Musk wants to make the platform a private, unlisted company, thus more and more avoiding any outside control.
The contradiction between his stated intentions and style has not escaped criticism from some experts.
“I’m going to buy and privatize the public space in order to save it,” says Renee Derista, a researcher at Stanford Internet Observatory. Try saying this sentence out loud and you will notice that it does not make sense.”