Now Elon Musk has officially bought Twitter for a whopping $44bn, how will the platform change, and how will that affect you?
It was only two weeks ago that Elon Musk’s place on Twitter’s board was being speculated. Now, the billionaire Tesla CEO has taken it one step further: buying the social media platform outright. Known for his outspoken usage of the platforms, he promises to ‘make Twitter better than ever’.
But What Does This Mean?
There’s a lot of uncertainty about what Musk will change. His plans to make the platform private means he will have complete control, so many of his outlandish ideas may be put into place.
Concerningly, the “free speech absolutist” will want to reduce moderation, with the possibility of reinstating previously suspended accounts. Most notably suspended was ex-President Donald Trump, banned last year after the capitol Building Riots.
In March, Musk asked his 83 million followers whether the site adhered to the principle of free speech. Evidently testing the waters with what he has planned. With the majority voting ‘no’, it seems most of his followers agree that Twitter needs more free speech.
However, this is definitely not a unanimous view across the platform. Twitter has been criticised continuously for not striking down on hate speech quick enough. Will Musk’s charge for ‘free speech’ only make this worse? With bills from the UK and America in progress to make the internet a safer place, let’s hope this won’t be the case.
Less Concerning Changes
Promising to make ‘significant changes’, Musk has hinted several times at the inclusion of the long-debated edit button and even ‘to defeat the spam bots or die trying!‘
Whatever happens, it seems Twitter may change drastically – and not necessarily for the better. Celebrities such as Jameela Jamil have already announced their departure from the platform.
With the possibility of ‘free speech’ fuelling more bigoted conversations, will you stay on Twitter, or turn to another social media platform instead?