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Article source | The Guardian, article compiled | Shirley
Elon Musk, the owner of one of Twitter's most popular accounts, is now also the owner of Twitter.
On April 25, sources said Twitter was ready to accept Elon Musk's $54.20 per share bid as the company's sale price, meaning Musk would add the world's largest social media to its business landscape at a valuation of about $44 billion.
Separately, judging by Musk's tweets over the past month, six important changes to the social media platform are expected to occur after he takes over.
01 Can Donald Trump return?
Musk has said that he is an "absolutist of free speech", and the fact that "the former president of the United States was blocked from a Twitter account" is a powerful test of this ideal. In January 2021, Trump's Twitter account was permanently suspended shortly after the Capitol riots because the company said Trump repeatedly violated company rules and risked "further incitement to violence."
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Musk also said this month that he was very cautious about Twitter's "permanent ban" and hoped to have a "timeout system," but he did not speak directly about Trump's account problems, which has nearly 89 million followers.
Musk once said at the TED conference, "I think it's very important to build an inclusive arena for free speech." Twitter has become a de facto town square, so it's important for people to recognize that they can speak freely within the confines of the law. ”
Trump's ban, however, was partly due to Twitter's fear that his tweets would incite violations. Musk must reconcile his free speech principles, legal realities, and Trump's history on the platform. In addition, on Monday night, the former president also confessed on Fox News that he did not even want to come back, but continued to use his startup Truth Social.
Even so, a small group of House Republicans urged Musk to take action on the matter.
02 Stricter regulatory environment
At the moment, the social media industry is subject to stricter regulation, especially in Europe. Last week, the European Union announced the Digital Services Act, under which social media companies such as Twitter, Facebook and Google must do more to combat illegal content or face billions of euros in fines. This comes after the UK's online safety bill, which requires social media platforms to protect users from harmful content, which is expected to come into effect around the end of the year.
The United States, of course, has also proposed some regulatory measures in this regard. Washington's legislative proposals include the creation of a new Digital Safety Agency at the Ft. Trade Commission and new child safety requirements for tech companies. The latter was co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. Last year, Blumenthal co-chaired an explosive evidence conference with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. And he has been advocating for greater regulation of social media.
03 Revenue and user growth
Twitter's investors have long been focused on the company's revenue and user growth.
In a deleted tweet this month, Musk raised the possibility of removing ads from blue, the platform's premium service. Blue is only available in the United States and Australia, not in places like the United Kingdom. It is understood that 90% of Twitter's $5 billion in annual revenue comes from advertising, so this potential move proposed by Musk is not radical.
04 Change in management
Musk isn't the first Twitter shareholder to voice concerns about the company's operations. Elliott Management, a radical investment firm that took a stake in Twitter in 2020. At the time, it was reported that the investment firm believed CEO Jack Dorsey was not focused enough on managing the platform and was not adding innovative products fast enough. Despite surviving initial pressure, Dorsey announced his departure last November, and his successor, Parag Agrawal, rose from chief technology officer to the top position.
In a text message to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor, Musk made it clear that if he succeeds in acquiring the company, another executive change will be made. "If the deal fails, given that I don't have confidence in management and don't believe I can push the open markets to make the necessary changes, I will reconsider my position as a shareholder," he said. ”
Currently, Musk is the CEO of Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, and is also the owner of boring company Boring Company, so he has a lot of confidence.
Image credit: Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty Images
Tesla shareholders want Musk to continue to focus on running a $1 trillion electric car manufacturing company, but that would be a surprise if Musk didn't meddle in Twitter's operations.
05 Possible edit buttons
Musk also suggested that Twitter's algorithms be open sourced, meaning users will be able to see algorithms that manage what users see. Musk said Twitter users should be able to see whether their posts are promoted or downgraded.
06 Dogecoin rose sharply again
This is the third time that Dogecoin has risen sharply in recent times. Earlier this month, after Musk became Twitter's largest individual shareholder, the price of Dogecoin got a run- Musk then suggested that the Blue service accept DOGE to pay for fees, causing the cryptocurrency's price to rise again.
It can be said that Musk has always been influential in the cryptocurrency market, and he has always been regarded as a supporter of Dogecoin. Last year, he said that the only cryptocurrencies he owned were BTC, ETH and DOGE. Last week, Coin Insider released a report based on an analysis of Google's trend data that doge's popularity and price were attributed to Musk's influence. It can be seen that musk's next move will also determine the direction of DOGE.
[This article was originally published in ChainDede, authorized by Titanium Media App, author: Song Song]