Elon Musk will probably run into exactly the same problems as the network’s platforms before, writes Jussi Pillinen, HS’s head of finance and politics.
When a billionaire Elon Musk a couple of weeks ago left a social media service on Twitter tender offer, he justified his offer with a few sentences. He addressed them to the board of directors of the listed company Twitter, that is, to its largest owners.
“I invested in Twitter because I believe in it as a platform for free speech all over the world. I also believe that freedom of speech is a social necessity in a functioning democracy, ”Musk wrote.
“However, after making my investment, I have realized that in its current form, the company is not thriving and will not serve this necessity. Twitter needs to be revolutionized as a private company. ”
Either the words of Musk or the huge purchase price of around € 41 billion scratched by this size were effective. Twitter’s board announced Monday that it has accepted the takeover bid.
Read more: Elon Musk buys Twitter for $ 44 billion
If the deal goes ahead, the unpredictable billionaire will become the ruler of one of the world’s most powerful social media platforms.
Musk is known to some audience as an entertaining troll with tremendous risk-taking. Also, buying a Twitter would be easy to brand again as just one trick.
However, Musk’s belief in freedom of speech is certainly also sincere. Branded as a kind of online freedom warrior, Musk speaks out for decentralized cryptocurrencies, laughs at authorities with ordinary some users, and blackmails authorities.
Musk has received a rumor in the past from the SEC, which controls the U.S. stock market – specifically from tweets that contain misleading stock market information.
Musk also makes things happen. Electric car company Tesla, space-conquering SpaceX and tunnel company Boring Company are creations that have made the billionaire one of the heroes of the new economy.
But can he really succeed in changing Twitter?
Network freedom of speech is easy to talk about, but promises are harder to deliver. Facebook, or Meta, has spoken out in favor of maximum transparency in the past Mark Zuckerbergthe founders of the online service Reddit as well as Twitter itself.
Since then, all of them have found that it is not that simple.
Full freedom brings with it all the problems of the world: terrorism, violence, revenge, bullying and, at worst, live broadcasts of genocide, such as In Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019. The slag of humanity flowing into the services has driven one platform at a time to draw ever tighter limits on content.
They are already obliged to do so by law. It was not until Saturday that the EU agreed on a new package of laws that would further restrict the operation of Finnish platforms. New European digital market law pushes services to eliminate, among other things, “hate speech and disinformation” more strictly. The operating principles of the algorithms must also be made public.
Even the furious decentralization of national authorities will not escape. Musk may be up against sometrolls, but the EU Commission’s bureaucracy may be a harder piece.
Even free speech in the United States Musk trade is not just celebrated. Twitter is known to make a significant impact on the news agenda in the United States, for example, and there is huge political interest in the service. The leaders of Twitter and Facebook have sat in the country’s congressional to hear about how they are actually exercising their power. The propaganda of foreign powers is not viewed well by the US authorities.
The hot potato in the United States is also whether the former president could Donald Trump to return to Twitter, from which he was expelled after the conquest of the Congress House. Does Musk open the gates to everyone?
Then there’s Musk’s own position. He is one of the richest people in the world who can afford to demand all boundaries: nothing threatens him. Minorities who are harassed online may not share his or her views on what constitutes a good environment for discussion – and may vote on their feet.
In the cards indeed, Elon Musk finds in front of him exactly the same problems that digital platforms have encountered time and time again.
The identity of users could be more widely verified, but how can it be done globally, reliably and cost-effectively? Content restrictions could be limited to the law, but who will ultimately interpret the law – incitement against the Finnish people, for example? How to maximize freedom without being used to spread violence or threats?
What do you do when a repressed police call? What do you do if Vladimir Putin Tweet?
If Elon Musk is really capable of resolving these issues, he really is one of the geniuses of our time. It’s worth the wait.
#Comment #Elon #Musk #buys #Twitter #finds #difficult #task #swamp #free #speech
