This article was first published last weekend during the contacts between Musk and Twitter, and against the background of the completion of the deal, we are publishing it here again.
There is no doubt that Tesla CEO Alon Musk knows how to make headlines and that’s part of his practice. Those whom Musk himself is “not sure” will actually succeed.
Tonight (Monday) Musk managed to fulfill his plan, and if he succeeds in his planned tactics (for example, a possible backup plan is a collaboration with investors like Oracle, and private capital companies like Thoma Bravo and others, so the investment will cost several billion dollars) – one has to ask : How is the social network likely to look with a CEO like Musk? What changes are we likely to see?
More freedom of expression?
If there is one issue that Musk has been discussing in recent months in general, but these days in particular, it is a matter of freedom of expression. He has criticized Twitter on many occasions for not fulfilling its role as a guardian of freedom of expression. Musk said in a TED interview last week: “Twitter has become a kind of de facto city square. So it’s just very important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the boundaries of the law” – and he emphasized this point a lot.
A highlight was when he posted a tweet on Twitter with a poll, in which he asked users if they believed Twitter was fulfilling its role in the field, and more than 70% of respondents said no. And that seems to be exactly what Musk is looking for, to allow for every possible and legal discourse. Musk thinks that “Twitter should conform to state laws, and if it is in the gray area, I would say let freedom of expression exist” – so for him removing content and blocking users is a problematic thing, but temporary suspensions for users is a possible thing.
This perception of course worries many groups, because such content policies as those of Twitter and content management with the help of inspectors and managers, help Twitter fight the disinformation and hate speech. If Musk really leads to the canvas expanding, human rights groups around the world are warning with concern that this could be problematic.
Dr. Dafna Yeshua Katz, a digital media researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, claims that this whole story is ridiculous in her eyes. “This whole story if he buys, what he will buy and what might happen to freedom of expression on Twitter is a bit ridiculous. Twitter is a social network and for-profit organization. All studies now show that all inequality online replicates itself online,” she said. “I do not think a specific personality who will head the social network will really change Twitter, because the story here is the engineers themselves, the ones who work on Twitter. They are the ones who write the code, they are the ones who characterize the algorithm so that’s what really matters.”
There are a lot of policies on the part of a company and of the technology manufacturers, and that is beyond the technical ownership of a company. The elites are still the ones who develop and manage these places. As with facial recognition technologies – there was the story that they did not recognize black people. Why? “Because the people who built the algorithm were white people, and then it’s completely clear that it will not recognize black people properly,” said Dr. Yeshua Katz. “Power preserves itself in these places, and it’s far beyond the technical ownership of a body, because engineers always come from the same background.”
According to Dr. Liraz Margalit, a researcher in behavior in the digital age from the IDC Herzliya, this whole move of freedom of expression on the part of Musk is with the aim of preparing the ground. “Musk is known to be a very self-centered person. “It does not contradict his desire to worry about the future of humanity but in terms of personality profile he carries narcissistic characteristics and so the acquisition of Twitter prevents the need to get a platform to express himself even before he takes care of freedom of expression,” she explains.
According to her, Musk is looking for a way to fulfill his needs and he will not admit it. “He is looking for a platform where he can communicate his vision to the world,” she states and points out, “it does not stem from freedom of expression but from the need to ‘insert’ into all those with whom he quarrels like Bezos.” The reason for this comparison is because Bezos owns the Washington Post, and Musk is interested in taking such a step to hold an important public opinion platform.
More Donald Trump?
As a result of broader freedom of expression, Republican lawmakers and various users have called on Tesla CEO to bring former U.S. President Donald Trump back to Twitter. If Musk believes in a broader freedom of expression, it seems that such a move aligns with his perception.
Dear Elon Musk, bring back President Donald J. Trump.
– Lord Julio Gonzalez – juliogonzalez.com (@TaxReformExpert) April 5, 2022
However, alongside these referrals from various lawmakers, a Twitter spokesman responded to several news outlets around the world, ruling on Trump’s return: “Our policy decisions are not determined by the board of directors or shareholders, and we have no plans to overturn any policy-related decisions,” the proposal said. This one was dropped from the episode. If it is allowed to him in one way or another, he will want to come back.
“Despite Trump’s statements that he will not return to Twitter even if Musk takes over – he will probably return because he is now in a situation where he has no outlet to express himself and be in touch with the world. “If Musk does take over Twitter, after all his statements about freedom of expression – he will not be able to afford to keep Trump off the platform – it will be the most significant step to show that he stands behind his words,” said Dr. Margalit.
More transparency?
One of the moves Musk talked about was to make the algorithm accessible as open source, thus creating a trust base and ensuring availability in front of users. “The code needs to be on GitHub so people can browse it,” he said. That way people will actually be able to understand why their tweets are successful or not, a move that Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, even supported. And the way to do that is by way of greater transparency in the face of the moves that the social network itself is making.It is designed to replace a set of rules set by the company and dictate what the user will see or what will be allowed, which is an important change in the game.
More prestigious?
Dr. Margalit argues that part of the change could also be in the possible prestigious design. It is important for Musk that his technologies be identified with him and therefore he will give the platform a more innovative, clean and elitist look that is reminiscent of the rest of his products. A unique look that will allow him to make his mark on the platform, “she claims.
More private company?
In a letter to Twitter chairman Brett Taylor, Musk wrote: “Since I made the investment, I now understand that the company will not thrive or serve this social imperative in its current machine. Musk needs to understand exactly the hurdle and the solution here – executives in a private company have more freedom to make decisions without the pressure of providing better quarterly results and without worrying about what investors or analysts will say or criticize. He wants them.
More economic inserts and Musk interests?
In an interview with TED last week, he said it was not an economic move for him: “This is not a way to make money, my strong intuitive sense is that there is a public platform here that is reliable and contains maximum, and that is undoubtedly extremely important.” But Musk is quite clear that there are more monetization options and it is possible to make the social network yield more money.
Experts point out that he will try to change the economic model that is not profitable enough today. “It will provide a better user experience but allow for more sponsored and customized content, in particular – it will take advantage of it to advance its agenda and the other technologies it develops. “But I do not think he will go in that direction – all Musk wants is to promote Musk’s agendas,” said Dr. Margalit. Hundreds of thousands of followers and he has about 80 million followers on Twitter, so it is clear he wants to keep his business interests here.
“If Alon Musk succeeds, it could be a dangerous moment in history.”
Dr. Yaniv Levitan, an expert in information warfare, University of Haifa agrees with Dr. Margalit and explains that “the great added value that Musk receives here, first and foremost, is his public relations. We have another element here in the public relations stunts that Musk practices.” “Musk, he often wins publicity moves that earn him headlines and shape the public agenda. His job is to make headlines, so that’s the main role of this move. See that Tesla is a company that has not invested a penny in marketing, and that’s part of it.”
According to Dr. Leviathan, the parameter that needs to be confronted with us is what Musk’s own interests are. We have no idea what it could be, but it would be in his best interests, “said Dr. Leviathan, adding:” However, he can not really make major changes, he will not change theDNA Of Twitter because that’s what makes her so good and what he loves. I can hardly believe he will make drastic changes. “
“If Alon Musk succeeds, it could be a dangerous moment in history. In my view, when one person has such great power, it starts to be a very problematic place. Twitter is a place that can shape consciousness and drive public opinion, and one has to take into account that Musk’s business can connect because he “A lot of power. The flights to space, the new energy, the artificial intelligence and now also Twitter, if everything connects together we need to turn on a red light on how much power one person has,” Dr. Levitan signed.