Elon Musk proposed to buy Twitter, and the whole world is looking forward to the result of his bit because Musk is a self-claimed ambassador of free speech. The bid questions the existing social media ownership model. The question is: can we trust him?
Freedom of Speech
Musk claims that he is a champ of freedom of speech, and aims at challenging the communications sector by addressing the issue of privacy.
Twitter is criticized correctly because its owners have the authority to allow or not to allow content. This process is questionable as well as sounds political. It is also criticized for its hesitancy to do something meaningful against the deceptive remarks of Donald Trump, the former US president.
Social Issue
Some people are asking for a severer rule on what can be posted or not on provocative matters. But the problem is when there is an authority to allow or not allow content, there would also be a possibility of being misled by a certain group of people who have their own political agenda. Some people may take the advantage of the rules to shut down constructive criticism against them.
Political Interest
In 2019, thousands of fake social accounts were created in support of military activity in Bolivia. Unfortunately, Musk supported the attack by saying that “we will coup whoever we want.” Experts are concerned regarding Musk buying Twitter because, in their opinions, it would be tough to trust a business tycoon with power to control an already politically motivated platform.
What does Musk mean by freedom of speech? It is not a clear notion because he did not address how he would deal with the issue of Twitter’s direct involvement in the politically motivated campaigns, and how his approach would be different from the existing authority. The whole social world is eagerly waiting to see how Musk’s possible involvement may impact a platform.
