Elon Musk’s shocking offer to acquire Twitter drew both criticism and applause, after promising to open up the social network to greater freedom of expression for the benefit of democracy.
Tech analysts reacted to the Tesla chief’s proposal with concerns about its transparency, public discourse and even how it might impact democracy.
Twitter, considered one of the world’s largest and most influential information-sharing platforms, has received a $43 billion takeover offer from Musk, though it faces uncertainties on several fronts.
“Twitter is too important to be owned by one person”venture investor Fred Wilson wrote on the social network. “The opposite should happen, that Twitter be decentralized,” he opined.
Musk’s offer, who has not specified the means of financing for the eventual purchase, faces resistance from the board of directors and at least some shareholders.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal opposed the offer saying it is too low, to which Musk responded by ironically about “media freedom of expression” in Saudi Arabia.
Unveil the algorithms
In addition, Musk hinted Thursday that he would like to lift the veil on the algorithm that governs the platform, allowing people to scrutinize it and suggest changes.
He also reiterated his position on a more direct approach to policing content on the platform, a thorny issue that has drawn criticism on Twitter, especially in high-profile cases of terms of service violations.
Political opponents of Republican Donald Trump have long called for his censorship on the social network, and fans have expressed outrage when he was kicked out over fears his posts “could spark violence.”
“I think we just want to be very reluctant to remove things and very cautious with permanent bans. I think temporary suspensions are better,” Musk said at a news conference on Thursday.
“I take it that what we really want, as a kind of obsession and reality, is for speech to be as free as rationally possible,” Musk added.
Conservatives applaud, the left terrified
Critics argue that absolute freedom of speech on social media would be a very complicated issue in the real world.
“I fear for the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk buys Twitter,” tweeted Max Boot, a columnist for the Washington Post, a newspaper belonging to the other most powerful billionaire in the United States, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Musk’s rival. in space technology competition.
“He (Musk) seems to believe that anything can be done on social media. But for the survival of democracy we need more content moderation, not less.”Boot added.
But those who support Musk’s idea of transforming Twitter so that it stops arrowing the political field from its algorithms reached a totally opposite conclusion, welcoming the prospect.
“This is the best news for free speech in years!” tweeted Nigel Farage, a populist politician who helped lead the Brexit campaign.
Conservative politicians in the United States such as Senator Ted Cruz also showed their support for less moderation on the social network.
“If the Left thinks they’re right, why is they so afraid of free speech?” Cruz tweeted in response to Boot’s criticism.
The challenge of liberating the public arena
Furthermore, the left and right of the political spectrum in the United States have been skeptical of the power concentrated in a few hands on social platforms and their lack of transparency.
Lawmakers in the United States have long stalled on regulating the tech giants as states have launched their own rules, surveys and lawsuits.
The idea that Twitter, which is currently a public company, would go into private hands and into a structure that would concentrate power in the hands of Musk seems contradictory.
The network has been considered a global place for the exchange of ideas, and therefore a place where the right to express oneself is paramount.
“’I have to buy and private the public square to save it!’ Try to say it out loud, it sounds ridiculous,” Renee DiResta, manager of technical research at the Stanford Internet Observatory, wrote on her account. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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